In a move that was long awaited by many of Alabama’s minority residents, the Obama administration filed a lawsuit on Aug. 1 to stop the state’s tough new immigration law from going into effect.
The law, known as H.B. 56, is considered by many legal scholars to be the toughest anti-illegal immigration law in the nation.
Many states, including Arizona and Georgia, have enacted similar legislation in recent months, aimed at curbing the rising number of illegal immigrants residing in their respective states.
If allowed to become law exactly as written, H.B. 56 would enable police officers to ask for proof of immigration status during routine traffic stops and force employers to check the immigration status of each new employee. More controversial, however, are the provisions that would punish legal residents with fines and jail time for assisting illegal immigrants with transportation and other necessities.
The Obama administration is suing primarily on the grounds that immigration enforcement should be left up to the federal government.
“Various provisions of H.B. 56 conflict with federal immigration law and undermine the federal government’s careful balance of immigration enforcement priorities and objectives,” states a news release from the Department of Justice.
Students, particularly those involved in political organizations at UA, expressed strong opinions about the President’s decision to sue the state of Alabama.
“What I find interesting about the Obama administration is its willingness to supersede the Constitution in almost every way possible,” said Cliff Sims, chairman of College Republicans. “However, when it comes to protecting our borders, something they are actually supposed to do, they drop the ball, leaving the states in a position where they have to protect themselves.”
By filing a lawsuit to block H.B. 56, the Obama administration is setting a trend that could potentially have a harmful effect on the American legal system in the long run, Sims said.
“We are also a country in which everyone is equal under the law,” he said. “Ignoring laws just because the administration doesn’t like them is a dangerous precedent that is an attack to the rule of law, one of our founding principles.”
Allowing illegal immigrants to live in Alabama and benefit from the programs designed to help needy Americans is unfair to those who are here legally, Sims said.
“In a time when we are running record deficits, it is not reasonable to ask American taxpayers to continue to provide free services for those who do not pay into the system,” he said.
Although not a perfect piece of legislation, Sims said he expects H.B. 56 to be upheld and tweaked in future legislative sessions.
Elizabeth Robinson, vice president of the Libertarian group Young Americans for Liberty, also voiced support for H.B. 56, saying that it was lawmakers’ only way of dealing with rising costs associated with illegal immigrants.
“Paying for public benefits for illegal immigrants is a fiscal burden on the state,” Robinson said. “The main problem isn’t the immigrants themselves, but the welfare state that the United States has become.”
Robinson believes the federal government should pass legislation that would make laws such as H.B. 56 unnecessary.
“Immigration reform should come in the form of secure borders, entitlement restructuring and an efficient way for immigrants to come work in the U.S. legally,” Robinson said.
Other groups, such as College Democrats, feel quite the opposite about the law.
“The UA College Democrats support the President’s decision and feel that there are things contained in the law that we feel are unconstitutional,” said Jamie Woodham, president of the College Democrats.
Those who disagree with the law should voice their opinions to their legislators, Woodham said.
“I would definitely say the bottom line is that we don’t agree with the bill that Alabama passed,” he said. “We’d like to encourage other Alabamians to stand up and say that this bill is wrong and it should not have been passed.”
College Democrats are planning an event on campus that will allow people to share their opinions about H.B. 56.
Although the law was set to go into effect on Sept. 1, U.S. District Judge Sharon Blackburn blocked H.B. 56 until Sept. 29 so she can consider the large number of lawsuits filed against it.
