Alabama gives police power to arrest illegal immigrants on sight in toughest law yet

And it's even against the law to give one a ride

Alabama's governor has signed the nation's toughest new immigration law in a major crackdown on 'illegals'.

The new law affects education, housing and employment. It requires public schools to document students' immigration status and even makes it a crime to knowingly give an illegal immigrant a ride.

The bill also means police can arrest anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant if they're stopped for any other reason.

Big clampdown: Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley after signing the bill on Thursday with Republican Sen. Scott Beason, one of the bill's sponsors to his side

NEW LAW: KEY POINTS

Police must detain someone they suspect of being in the country illegally if the person cannot produce proper documentation when stopped for any reason. It will be a crime to knowingly transport or harbour or provide housing for someone who is in the country illegally. Penalties will be imposed on businesses that knowingly employ someone without legal resident status. A company's business licence could be suspended or revoked. The law requires Alabama businesses to use a database called E-Verify to confirm the immigration status of all new employees. Public schools must determine, by review of birth certificates or sworn affidavits, the legal residency status of students. Schools in the state must publish figures on the numbers of immigrants who are enrolled in school.



Alabama employers also are now required to use a federal system called E-Verify to determine if new workers are in the country legally.

Gov. Robert Bentley said the law is America's toughest. Groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center say they plan to challenge it.

Mary Bauer, the legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said on Thursday that she expects a lawsuit to be filed before the provisions of the law are scheduled to take effect on September 1.

Mrs Bauer said: 'It is clearly unconstitutional. It's mean-spirited, racist and we think a court will enjoin it.'

Sam Brooks, of the SPLC's Immigrant Justice Project, said the new law will set back progress Alabama has made on civil rights and race relations.

He also said it would be costly for the state to enforce and defend the provisions of the law.

According to the 2010 U.S. census, 3.9 per cent — about 186,000 — of the state's nearly 4.8 million people were identified as Hispanic or Latino.

That's more than double the number reported in the 2000 census.

One of the sponsors, Republican Sen. Scott Beason of Gardendale said the new law would create jobs and put unemployed Alabama residents back to work.

He said: 'This will put thousands of Alabamians back in the workforce.'

Jared Shepherd, a lawyer for the ACLU, said the new law has nothing to do with jobs.

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'This is about trying to put anti-immigration sentiment into law,' Shepherd said, adding that the ACLU would join the SPLC and other groups in challenging the law in court.

He said he finds the provisions requiring schools to document the immigration status of students to be particularly troublesome.

He said he is concerned that immigrant parents will not send their children to school out of fear that they will be arrested because of their immigration status, the Associated Press reports.

Public schools will not be able to deny illegal immigrants an education, however.

Gov. Bentley said the bill was intended to get data about how many illegal immigrants attend public schools.

The governor, who campaigned on passing the toughest anti-illegal immigration bill possible, said he believes the measure can withstand legal challenges.

The House sponsor, Republican Rep. Micky Hammon of Decatur, said the bill was written so that if any part of it is determined to be unconstitutional or violate federal law, the rest will stand.

Alabama's law was modelled on a similar law passed in Arizona.

A federal judge blocked the most controversial parts of Arizona's law last year after the Justice Department sued.

A federal appeals court judge upheld the decision, and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has said she plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Neighboring Georgia also passed a law cracking down on immigration this year, and civil liberties groups have filed a lawsuit trying to block it.

Linton Joaquin, general counsel for the National Immigration Law Centre in Los Angeles, said the Alabama law stands out over other states because it covers all parts of an immigrant's life.

'It is a sweeping attack on immigrants and people of colour in general. It adds restrictions on education, housing and other areas.

'It is a very broad attack. The state does not have the right to create its own immigration regime,' Mr Joaquin said.