The Migration Policy Institute reports on a settlement between the state of Alabama and plaintiffs who had tied up the implementation of HB 56, enacted in 2011 to crack down on undocumented persons. Plaintiffs prevented the law from being enforced through a suit in federal court and a federal Court of Appeals decision to enjoin the state from enforcing the law. The Supreme Court declined in April 2013 to review the decision. The state threw in the towel, signing a settlement on October 29. The text of the settlement is here.
This settlement might blow the winds out of the sails of those trying to pass draconian, anti- undocumented worker statutes. The Alabama statute was the most far-reaching such law. Per the MPI, Arizona led the charge in 2010 by enacting SB 1070, which served as the blueprint for this forceful new activism toward unauthorized immigrants, rooted in the idea of “attrition through enforcement.” Five states — Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina, and Utah — quickly followed Arizona’s example in 2011.
The MPI says that under the settlement, Alabama state officials agreed to block components of HB 56 that would have:
Required K-12 public schools to collect information about the immigration status of their students
Made it a criminal offense for noncitizens to fail to carry their alien registration documents
Made it a crime for unauthorized immigrants to solicit work
Made it a criminal offense to offer a ride or rent housing to an unauthorized immigrant
Infringed on the ability of individuals to contract with an unauthorized immigrant.
In addition to agreeing to block these provisions, the state will pay organizations that brought the lawsuit — including the Southern Poverty Law Center, American Civil Liberties Union, National Immigration Law Center, and Mexican American Legal and Education Defense Fund — $350,000 for attorney fees and expenses incurred in the litigation.
The MPI goes on to say that in the months leading up to the Alabama settlement, federal courts have been inhospitable to state omnibus immigration enforcement laws.