ACLU to challenge new Alabama immigration law

The American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, in conjunction with several other civil rights groups, is planning to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the immigration policy Alabama Gov. Robert J. Bentley signed into law Thursday.
Alabama’s new law will require schools, businesses, and landlords to verify the immigration status of their students, employees and tenants, respectively. Police will be allowed to detain people on suspicion of being in the country illegally and it will be unlawful to give a ride to an undocumented immigrant.
(Rick Perry speaking at Alabama GOP dinner)

The new law has been described as tougher than Arizona’s SB 1070 – which has caused such a storm in recent months – and will go into effect on September 1.
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, told the Los Angeles Times that the new law would likely reduce illegal immigration in the state.
“I think this shows one more case of states moving to do what the Obama administration is unwilling to do,” Krikorian said. “This wouldn’t be happening if the administration were credible on enforcement, but it’s just not.”
Nevertheless civil liberties activists are up in arms and preparing to mount their legal challenge.
“This law is an outrageous throw-back to the pre-Civil Rights era, going beyond the discriminatory and unconstitutional police practices that we’ve seen in other states,” Cecillia Wang, director of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project.