By: Daniel Nardini
In an inconceivable decision, a federal judge has ruled that the State of Alabama’s immigration law IS legal. The state law allows police to arrest, detain, and hand over all Latinos to U.S. immigration suspected of being undocumented. It does not establish guidelines of how state authorities can tell who is undocumented and who is not. Therefore, all Latinos are targets. Worse, the law also allows the state authorities to require all incoming students to Alabama’s school system of providing information on whether their parents are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents. Although the state authorities claim that this is only for “statistical purposes,” it has to beg for the question why this information is needed anyway? Since it will be in the state records, and it is not confidential, could it be used for detaining and arresting Latinos at a later date?
With the law being upheld, we are seeing Latinos leaving in droves. We are seeing parents pulling their children out of school. We are seeing Latino migrant workers leave. We are seeing Latinos leaving their jobs, Latino families selling their homes, and Latinos selling their businesses and leaving the state. Those Latinos who are staying are concerned about their future and wonder what constitutional protections they will have under these anti-immigrant laws. While U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration has vowed to appeal the court ruling, we are seeing another Arizona scenario being carried out. We are seeing tens of thousands of lives wrecked. We are seeing Latinos once again being made the target of anti-immigrant hysteria. But most of all the state politicians will make Alabama a much poorer place for it.
There is also a very dangerous situation developing here. Since Alabama is one of three states that have passed state immigration laws, it is building a serious momentum for other states to create something similar or keep trying to do so. The real danger here is that if each and every state has its own immigration law—which by the U.S. Constitution IS clearly the realm of the federal government—it will be a backdoor to the dissolution of the United States. It will make each and every state a sovereign entity and gut the constitution and constitutional law. I have warned about this several times before, and this country is and will become even more divided on the basis of how we deal with our social, economic and political problems. If each state has a radically different concept of what is acceptable, then how can we function as a country? The U.S. Constitution allows states to make their own laws when they are not in contravention of federal laws as defined in the constitution. Clearly Alabama’s state immigration law, like that of Arizona’s and Georgia’s, is. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Latinos and many other immigrants are fleeing the state.
Flight from the Sovereign State of Alabama
By: Daniel Nardini
With the law being upheld, we are seeing Latinos leaving in droves. We are seeing parents pulling their children out of school. We are seeing Latino migrant workers leave. We are seeing Latinos leaving their jobs, Latino families selling their homes, and Latinos selling their businesses and leaving the state. Those Latinos who are staying are concerned about their future and wonder what constitutional protections they will have under these anti-immigrant laws. While U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration has vowed to appeal the court ruling, we are seeing another Arizona scenario being carried out. We are seeing tens of thousands of lives wrecked. We are seeing Latinos once again being made the target of anti-immigrant hysteria. But most of all the state politicians will make Alabama a much poorer place for it.
There is also a very dangerous situation developing here. Since Alabama is one of three states that have passed state immigration laws, it is building a serious momentum for other states to create something similar or keep trying to do so. The real danger here is that if each and every state has its own immigration law—which by the U.S. Constitution IS clearly the realm of the federal government—it will be a backdoor to the dissolution of the United States. It will make each and every state a sovereign entity and gut the constitution and constitutional law. I have warned about this several times before, and this country is and will become even more divided on the basis of how we deal with our social, economic and political problems. If each state has a radically different concept of what is acceptable, then how can we function as a country? The U.S. Constitution allows states to make their own laws when they are not in contravention of federal laws as defined in the constitution. Clearly Alabama’s state immigration law, like that of Arizona’s and Georgia’s, is. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Latinos and many other immigrants are fleeing the state.