Yesterday, Federal Judge Sharon Blackburn pushed back the day on which Alabama’s HB 56 would become law from Sept. 1 to Sept. 28. Regardless of your views on immigration policy, you have to be glad that this law is being considered extremely carefully by our judicial system. Praise for this reprieve showered down from both sides of the aisle in Montgomery, and for good reason.
House Bill 56 is certainly the harshest of the harsh immigration laws introduced since Arizona broke the usurping-federal-responsibility ice with their SB 1070 in 2010. The concerns about undocumented immigrants taking American jobs in hard times such as these are very real. That our legislators waited until times were hard to address immigration policy – which is anything but new – allows room for one to wonder whether this issue is purely political. Certainly our legislators did not miss the abuse that SB 1070 received in the courtroom. Certainly they saw how a preliminary injunction – like the one Judge Blackburn is mulling over now – blocked most of Arizona’s bill.
So, when times are hard, our legislators chose a path that is proven to cost the state money, clog the legal system and encourage racial discrimination. This path is also completely unproven as a way to fix the problems associated with undocumented immigration (how is Arizona doing a year later?), not to mention our job-creation problem. Let’s not forget that HB 56 does not exactly complement our most fundamental American values, namely freedom, civil rights, a right to privacy, religious freedom or the pursuit of happiness.
Judge Blackburn’s delay sheds little light on the final destination of the legislation, but it is no less a relief for a state that does not have the resources to enforce the multitude of ways one might interpret the “reasonable suspicion” provision of HB 56.
It is also a relief that on Thursday, we will not condemn the naturalized children of undocumented immigrants as felons for not reporting their parents to the authorities. At least now we have a month before we make it illegal to walk around without the documents that prove your citizenship. You can watch three Alabama football games with your undocumented friend before it becomes a felony to drive them to, say, a hospital. Police officers across the state must be wiping the sweat off their foreheads, relieved that they can continue protecting their communities instead of taking on the federal government’s job of enforcing immigration policy.
We commend Judge Blackburn for pressing “pause” and allowing the judicial system time to consider the unnervingly far-reaching consequences of this law. We hope our judicial system will ensure that the rights of every person are protected, and we hope that, ultimately, this law will not conflict with the Southern hospitality on which we pride ourselves.
Our View is the consensus of the Crimson White’s editorial board.
