A federal appeals court has temporarily restricted enforcement of some parts of the controversial Alabama HB 56 Law.
The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta issued a restriction today after the U.S. Justice Department and a coalition of immigrant rights groups requested HB 56 be put on hold until the larger constitutional issues can be addressed.
The Obama administration claims the Constitution does not allow individual states to legislate illegal immigration, saying any issues with foreign policy implications are the exclusive mandate of the federal government.
The Justice Department said the law turns illegal immigrants into a “unique class who cannot lawfully obtain housing, enforce a contract, or send their children to school without fear that enrollment will be used as a tool to seek to detain and remove them and their family members.”
Alabama’s law, passed this summer, would allow state and local officials to check the immigration status of public school students, detain suspected illegal residents without bond and make it a crime for immigrants to conduct business with the state for things like driver’s licenses, if they don’t have the proper documentation.
Sections prevented from being enforced include:
– Section 10, requiring immigrants to carry a “green card”;
– Section 28, allowing public school students to be questioned about their immigration status.
Nonetheless, Alabama will be allowed to enforce:
– Section 30, blocking undocumented immigrants from entering into a “business transaction”;
– Section 12, allowing local law enforcement to stop, detain or arrest upon reasonable suspicion anyone “unlawfully present” in the state.
