Alabama passes tough illegal-immigration law

By BOB JOHNSON - Associated Press | AP – Thu, Jun 9, 2011

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama vaulted past Arizona on Thursday, with what is being called the most restrictive law in the nation against illegal immigration, requiring schools to find out if students are in the country lawfully, and making it a crime to knowingly give an illegal immigrant a ride.

Advocacy-groups promised to challenge the sweeping measure, which, like Arizona's law also allows police to arrest anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant - if the person is stopped for some other reason. In addition, it requires all businesses to check the legal status of workers using a federal system called E-Verify.

http://beta.news.yahoo.com/alabama-passes-tough-illegal-immigration-law-205259381.html

WW

I'm all for any laws requiring states to enforce E-verify. For decades I've had to provide all manner of ID to employers to prove I'm a US citizen & that I'm me & not anybody else. The main issue with employers illegally hiring illegal workers seems to be the 90-day window. Without instant E-verify in the old way employers have 90 days to submit the SS## to the fed govt. By that deadline they get rid of the illegal worker with a fake SS## & hire a new illegal worker with a fake SS##.....starting the 90-day clock all over again. The employers who are breaking the current law do this millions of times year after year.

But the BS about police being given more power to demand ID.
Police already have a ton of leeway to demand ID. The US Constitution specifically protects citizens against unreasonable search & seizure. Merely being in a car with someone suspected of 'not looking like' a citizen can put citizens in the car at excessive risk of having their ID demanded for no good reason. Police will have the authority randomly to ask for ID of everyone in a group on the sidewalk or in a park or in a car--whereas normally police only ask for the ID of the person in the sidewalk or park group who is misbehaving or the person who is driving the car & suspected of breaking a law like running a stopsign.

Having police in our family.....it's evident that police themselves oppose these weird laws in AZ & now AL.....these kinds of laws are too vague. How are police supposed to determine which people among a group of people eating at McDonald's or hanging out with their kids at a park are 'illegal immigrants'?? How can police tell if someone from Russia or Canada has overstayed their visa just by looking at the person??

For Example--
A family of 50 Mexican Americans & Mexicans with green cards & Mexicans with tourist visas (& possibly an undocumented Mexican) are enjoying a picnic at a park with the kids on the 4th of July.....& someone brings a dog.....but dogs are illegal in that park. After an individual not in their group calls police about the dog.....as a result of the AZ or AL law (since Mexicans have an automatic 'suspicion' of being illegal) police must demand ID of *all* of the family members in addition to determining who owns the dog & having that person remove the dog. A 10-minute call turns into hours or even days of bureacratic checking. Since the family carpooled not everyone brought their ID.....so some of the family must be taken into custody for not having ID even old folks in wheelchairs). While police are busy verifying everyone's ID thieves & murderers run rampant thru the community that the officers are supposed to be protecting.

The illegal immigrant problem is big & deserves a smart solution not ridiculous demands that Americans hand over their ID just because. Americans could have a really orderly society if we violated the Constitution. For example Mussolini made the trains run on time (for a short while) by murdering Italian train workers who didn't meet quotas. Hitler kept meticulous track of the identity & location of every person under Nazi control--'Show me your papers.' The Nazis solved Germany's unemployment/economic crisis temporarily.....by murdering 12 million people & stealing all their stuff.

Here in Southern California, I have encountered any number of African-Americans who look like Hispanics and vice versa. I wonder......

I'd even be a bit worried personally under such a law because several people have told me that my speech pattern sounds "Canadian" (I don't know why - I don't say "hoose" for "house", etc.). Somewhere along the way I did lose my Midwestern/Michigan twang, and I simply try to enunciate words clearly, without slurs. In any case, it does strike me, too, as resembling something out of Nazi Germany.

Also, what's that nonsense about giving rides to people without verifying citizenship? Would people have to check the papers of, say, an elderly neighbor lady they occasionally drive to church?

E-Verify, a good thing. Better checks on Companies to see if they are hiring Illegals, a good thing. Checks on Companies that are hiring foreigners on work visas ( H1B ) is also a good thing; the ones that do it at the expense of hiring an American citizen. Some of the ideas and regulations put forth are a little Radical for sure ( Shades of the old USSR, Nazi Germany, Communist China, etc. ). America is turning into a Police State, if it isn't already one. I've heard that there are plans in the works that the Gov't may plant micro-chips in people that do International travel ( wish I could find this source ). Shades of "1984"? " The Mark of the Beast"?

All the unemployed better start carrying our birth certificates, they would love to deport us all, problem solved.

The micro-chip idea would be the one our Government would probably use. I carry a copy of my birth certificate in my wallet, and it's getting a little worn and frazzled! 666 is coming ! The idea for imbedding chips in our Dogs and Cats was just a start, to see if the principal would work. It does!