The first arrest under Alabama’s new harsh anti-illegal immigration law has been made, but many are saying Alabama officials have egg on their face after it was discovered that the man arrested is a legal resident of the United States.

Mohamed Ali Muflahi, 24, was born in Yemen, but now currently resides in the U.S. Friday, he was arrested during a raid in Etowah County, Alabama, and when he couldn’t produce documentation of his legal status, authorities booked him on a misdemeanor immigration offense, and accused him of obstructing a government operation.

Local news reports state that, shortly after learning of the arrest, but before it was found that Muflahi was here legally, Alabama state senators drafted a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder demanding that the Dept. of Justice drop all challenges of the state’s immigration law.

The letter was said to be scheduled for media release Tuesday, but the conference at which it was to be read was canceled for unspecified reasons. It is I thought that the cancellation was due to finding out Muflahi was not the illegal immigrant they were hoping to point to as proof that the state’s immigration legislation was working.

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