UU Ministers Urge Alabama Governor to Veto Draconian Anti-Immigrant Bill
Has Alabama taken up the mantle as the most anti-immigrant state in America?
The New York Times reports:
“Alabama has passed a sweeping bill to crack down on illegal immigrants that both supporters and opponents call the toughest of its kind in the country, going well beyond a law Arizona passed last year that caused a furor there.
The measure was passed by large margins in the Alabama Senate and the House, both Republican-controlled, in votes on Thursday. Governor Robert Bentley, a Republican, is expected to sign the bill into law.
“Alabama is now the new No. 1 state for enforcement,” said Kris Kobach, a constitutional lawyer who is secretary of state in Kansas. He has helped write many state bills to curtail illegal immigration, including Alabama’s.
The Alabama bill includes a provision similar to one that stirred controversy in Arizona, authorizing state and local police officers to ask about the immigration status of anyone they stop based on a “reasonable suspicion” the person is an illegal immigrant. Federal courts have suspended most of that Arizona law.
Rev. Fred Hammond
Alabama’s bill goes beyond Arizona’s. It bars illegal immigrants from enrolling in any public college after high school. It obliges public schools to determine the immigration status of all students, requiring parents of foreign-born students to report the immigration status of their children.
The bill requires Alabama’s public schools to publish figures on the number of immigrants — both legal and illegal — who are enrolled and on any costs associated with the education of illegal immigrant children.
The bill, known as H.B. 56, also makes it a crime to knowingly rent housing to an illegal immigrant. It bars businesses from taking tax deductions on wages paid to unauthorized immigrants.
Alabama UU Ministers have been speaking out against the measure. Weeks ago, Rev. Fred Hammond, the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Tuscaloosa, testified against the measure, telling legislators:
This legislation troubles me as a person of faith on many levels. Our faith calls us to love mercifully, to act with justice, and to walk humbly with our God. It is what Christians, Jews, Muslims and many other faith traditions are also called to do in their faith. This bill prevents what good people of faith are called to do and therefore must not be passed.
Read his complete testimony here: http://serenityhome.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/alabama-hb-56-public-hearing/
All of Alabama’s UU ministers gathered together to author a letter to Gov. Bentley, immediately after HB56 passed the Legislature and was sent to the Governor’s desk. Although the Governor has voiced support for the measure, opponents have vowed to challenge it in court as unconstitutional. No doubt, faith voices will continue to be lifted up against the lack of compassion associated with the measure.
LETTER TO GOVERNOR BENTLEY:
3 June 2011
State Capitol
600 Dexter Avenue
Montgomery, Alabama 36130
Dear Governor Bentley,
When the Legislature presents its substitute bill for HB56, I hope you will veto it. There are many reasons why this bill needs to be vetoed this year. But the major reason is it is simply not good for Alabama.
Governor Bentley, you recently sent back to the Legislature the proposed budget because there were bills that have not yet been passed that would place the budget out of balance and therefore make the budget unconstitutional. This bill will also make the budget unconstitutional in Alabama. Sections 22 and 23 require an increase in the state budget but because this bill falls under Amendment 621, a cost analysis is not needed to be established. But there is a cost that will be added to the state budget; and since Alabama is struggling to balance the budget in these dire economic times, this unknown cost will place the budget out of balance.
The act of criminalizing a whole group of people has costs associated to it that the state legislature has refused to seriously acknowledge. The arguments against these increased costs are based on assumed cost savings that are speculative and not based on real numbers of undocumented immigrants. We do not know how many immigrants are undocumented in the state but the Legislature is assuming that all Spanish speaking citizens are undocumented. This bill, therefore, targets anyone whose first language is Spanish and who looks like they come from south of the border.
Despite all arguments that racial profiling will not be permitted, human nature will dictate the occurrence of racial profiling. Our law enforcement personnel will not be able to be adequately trained to determine reasonable suspicion when language and ethnicity are part of the mix. But even if they were adequately trained, this bill also requires schools to determine if students were born in this country. Federal law requires that all children be given a public education regardless of national origin. This bill increases racial profiling in the schools.
This bill states the presumption that undocumented immigrants are causing economic hardship and an increase in lawlessness. There is no proof that this is the case. The legislature has come up with spurious anecdotes but nothing is found in the documentation. There is documentation that immigrants (undocumented and documented) have increased the state’s revenue in taxes and increased economic development in their respective communities. In fact, the state has had a decrease in violent crimes over the last decade even while the immigrant population has increased. This presumption is therefore a biased statement.
Governor, I urge you to veto this bill when it comes across your desk. It has components that in Arizona have cost that state millions of dollars in litigation. It has components that are blatantly prejudiced and demonize a hard-working segment of our population. This is not a job creation bill unless Alabama is seeking to increase the private for-profit prison industry in the state by criminalizing a whole population. Is this the Alabama you want to create as a legacy of your administration?
Sincerely,
Rev. Fred L Hammond, Minister, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Tuscaloosa
Rev. Diana Allende, Minister, Auburn Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Rev. Lone Jensen Broussard, Minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of Birmingham
Rev. Paul Britner, Minister, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Montgomery
Rev. Alice Syltie, Minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of Huntsville
