CENTRE — A day after 13 people were arrested in Montgomery while protesting Alabama's strict new immigration law – and after months of seeing the state take a beating in the national press – one state legislator admitted last week that “mistakes” were made when the Legislature passed the law in the final hours of the 2011 regular session.

“It is no excuse, but we got that bill with only four hours left in the session and we took the conference committee's word that the bill was OK,” Sen. Gerald Dial told The Post in an exclusive interview Nov. 16. “We relied on them because to not vote for the bill would have made me, and anyone else who didn't vote for it, look like we were opposed to doing something about illegal immigration.”

Dial, whose district includes the southern portion of Cherokee County, said he had been led to believe that Gov. Robert Bentley intended to add several amendments to the bill that would help clarify any vague language and better define the scope of the law in some instances.

“But he didn't,” Dial said.

Dial said it was his understanding that the original intent of the immigration bill was to make sure Alabama didn't provide state benefits or a free education to illegal aliens – restrictions he strongly favors.

But Dial admitted that the final wording has had several “unintended consequences” on a lot of people other than the state's estimated 185,000 illegal immigrants.

“This bill has created undue hardship for Alabama citizens,” Dial said. “We made a mistake. I made a mistake, and I'm willing to say so and step up and help make the changes that will make the bill better.”

Dial said he wants various elements of the current bill amended or removed when the Legislature meets for the 2012 regular session. Among them is the mandate that schools determine the immigration status of all their students when they register, a stipulation that has already been enjoined by a federal judge.

“Teachers are not supposed to be policemen,” Dial said. “And I would like to see a Good Samaritan clause added so people don't become criminals just because they stop on the side of the road and give an injured person a ride to the hospital who later turns out to be an illegal immigrant.”

Dial said despite the complaints he is hearing from farmers and produce growers in his district, one section of the bill he has no intention of readdressing is the part that restricts businesses in Alabama from hiring undocumented workers.

“I'm telling them not to hire any illegal immigrants,” Dial said of the farmers he has spoken with. “I hate to say it this way, but people who are here and aren't supposed to be are criminals. It is a criminal act if they are here illegally.”

Dial said he has heard from medical facilities, pharmaceutical companies and other businesses about the law's adverse effects on their operations because of cumbersome licensing requirements.

On top of everything else, Dial said, the law has cast Alabamians in a bad light.

“The bill makes us look like an uncompassionate group of people, and we're not that way at all,” Dial said. “We can use a little common sense and make some changes, and still have a strong bill that will discourage illegal immigrants from coming to Alabama.”