Federal Appeals Court Blocks Sections of Alabama Immigration Law

One strike against illegal immigration has now started an ongoing fight between the Cotton State and Washington D.C.

President Obama filed an appeal against the State of Alabama after the Federal District Court recently upheld Alabama's strict anti-immigration statute, the most direct and effective in the country.

The Republicans in the state house, who have taken power for the first time since Reconstruction, enacted broad powers to state and local governments, mandating that schools verify the status of children enrolling in state schools and requiring police officer to check the immigration of drivers during traffic stops.

The law also permitted the state to charge illegals in this country, or those who could not furnish papers upon request to confirm their status, with a misdemeanor and a fine.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down the misdemeanor charge and the mandate for schools to check the immigration status of students who enrolled after September 1.

Despite the legal challenges that have results, the state of Alabama is claiming a partial victory, in that police officers may still be required to inquire of the status of a suspect during an investigatory stop.

The state of Alabama, including its citizens both born and naturalized in the United States, should be proud to live in a state that respects the necessity and integrity of citizenship. If Ancient Rome accorded so much authority to one of its citizens, that an individual had the right to appeal to the Emperor himself for redress of wrongdoing, or if President Teddy Roosevelt was brash enough to declare war on Morocco when one of our citizens was imperilled in that nation, then we must be willing to recognize the power, authority, and value of citizenship in this country today.

While the argument for protecting legal residents's opportunities is respectable, the crux of the legal issue remains, as the Alabama House Speaker pointed out, that every state in the Union, including Alabama, must not allow itself to become a sanctuary state. In addition to the dangerous precedent of permitting flagrant law breakers to inhabit local communities, illegal immigration harms the state, which must provide public service for illegal immigrants without requisite compensation, since illegals do not pay state and federal income taxes.

Illegal immigration also harms the illegal immigrants themselves, who enjoy neither the rights nor the privileges enumerated in the Bill of Rights. For example, illegal immigrants have no standing in a state court (the ACLU filed the appeal to strike down Alabama' statute). They are the easy victims of predatory employers, who upon exploiting the services of illegal immigrants, can avoid compensating them by informing INS and having their illegal workforce arrested and deported.

Despite the Appellate Court's ruling which allows illegals (who pay not income taxes) to enroll their kids in struggling public schools (desperate for dwindling tax revenue), the police powers can still interrogate the status of an immigrant. This a welcome ruling for Alabama, which may also support Arizona's efforts to defend its own controversial immigration laws in Federal Court.

Yet beyond the judicial setback forced on the Cotton State, it is both shameful and demoralizing to witness the President of the United States punishing states like Alabama and Arizona, which are enforcing their own borders because the federal government refuses to do so. Instead of attacking the several states, President Obama must enforce the Constitution and safeguard the legal and territorial integrity of each state in the Union. Of course, Obama's legal maneuvering is nothing more than another crass attempt to shore up the deeply disillusioned Latino vote.

Hispanic citizens, both born and naturalized, are tired of the rampant lawlessness that accompanies illegal immigration, not just members of other ethnic groups born in this country. Every resident of the United States is negatively affected by the problem of unchecked illegal immigration. The citizens of Alabama should be proud of their effort to protect the rights and borders of their citizens and their state. If necessary, I hope that the residents of the Cotton state appeal all the way to the Supreme Court to enforce much needed legislation dealing with the problem of illegal immigration, which is still stalling in the irresponsible United States Congress.