A federal judge has temporarily blocked enforcement of Alabama's tough anti-illegal-immigration law, which was to have taken effect Thursday.
Update at 3:28 p.m. ET: Gov. Robert Bentley, a Republican, signed the measure June 9. The law, considered the toughest in the nation, would make it a state crime to be in Alabama without official documentation. Police would be allowed to detain someone if an officer has a "reasonable suspicion" the person is in the country illegally, and businesses would be punished for knowingly hiring undocumented workers.
The U.S. Justice Department and other plaintiffs argued that the law would interfere with immigration enforcement, a federal responsibility, and lead to racial profiling.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Blackburn heard arguments for the injunction in a nine-hour hearing last week in Birmingham, our sister paper, The Montgomery Advertiser, writes:
Blackburn last week expressed skepticism about the "reasonable suspicion" provision of the law, questioning state attorneys' arguments that law enforcement could detain individuals for immigration violations even if the Immigration and Naturalization Service was not looking for them.
The judge also questioned a provision that required schools to collect information on the immigration status of students, asking whether the state was creating a disparate classification of students based on national origin, a potential violation of the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.
In a statement after the injunction, the governor said, "I look forward to the judge ruling on the merits. We have long needed a tough law against illegal immigration in this state, and we now have one. I will continue to fight at every turn to defend this law against any and all challenges."
Original post: A federal judge has temporarily blocked enforcement of the Alabama law that would crack down on illegal immigration, the Associated Press reports. The law was scheduled to take effect Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Blackburn did not decide whether the law is constitutional, saying she needed more time to consider lawsuits challenging the law. She said she would issue a longer ruling by Sept. 28. printTagsAndPhotos();