Legal Ease by Shane Givens
Oct. 27, 2011

Alabama's immigration law, Part II

Share |

Since last week's article involving Alabama's Immigration law, the 11th Circuit Federal Appeals Court has issued an injunction preventing enforcement of additional sections of the law. Previous to that, the Alabama Federal District Court had enjoined enforcement of several provisions. Although there will be further litigation on the issue, at this moment, the following sections of the Immigration Law are enforceable. This is a general overview of what I feel are the most relevant sections.

First of all, the law states that an immigrant is presumed to be lawfully present in the state if he has either a valid, unexpired Alabama Driver's License or non-driver ID card; a valid tribal enrollment card or other tribal ID card with a photo or biometric identifier; a valid U.S. or state government-issued ID document with photo or biometric identifier; a foreign passport with an unexpired U.S. visa and corresponding stamp or notation; or a foreign passport issued by a visa waiver country with an entry stamp and unexpired duration of stay annotation, or any I-94W form.

Section 7 tells us that verification of an immigrant's lawful presence in Alabama is not required for primary or secondary school education; health care items and service necessary for treatment of an emergency medical condition not related to organ transplant; short-term emergency disaster relief; public health assistance for immunizations; soup kitchens, crisis counseling and intervention, short-term shelter, etc.; prenatal care; and/or child protective services, adult protective service, or domestic violence services.

Anyone applying for state or local public benefits, however, must sign a declaration that he or she is a U.S. citizen. If someone receives such a benefit and turns out to be an illegal immigrant, each offense is a separate violation, classified as second degree perjury.

Section 9 of the law states that, to be awarded any contract, grant or incentive by the state, an employer must not knowingly hire or continue to employ an unauthorized alien. In fact, the employer must enroll in E-Verify online system by Jan. 1, 2012 and verify every employee as required by federal rules. Upon the first violation of this section, the state attorney general may bring an action to suspend the contractor's business license up to 60 days. Further, the business must file affidavit with local district attorney within three days saying that the aliens were fired. On a second violation, the contract will be terminated and the contractor's business license can be permanently revoked.

Section 12 states that upon any lawful stop, detention, or arrest made in the enforcement of any state law or ordinance where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the U.S., a reasonable attempt shall be made to determine the immigration status of the person and must be verified with federal government within 24 hours of arrest. If delayed, the alien shall be released. If the person is an illegal alien, law enforcement must cooperate in the transfer of custody to the federal government.

I'll have more about the new law in next week's column. 

This column is intended for general information purposes only. The answers to most legal problems rely on specific facts of a particular situation; therefore, it is very important to see a lawyer when these situations arise. 

Please e-mail questions for future columns to givenslaw@tds.net.