Federal Judge Rules Alabama Police Can Check Immigration Status

U.S. District Judge Sharon Blackburn also ruled that Alabama can check students immigration status. This is a huge win for citizens and legal residents.

(Politico) — A federal judge gave a green light for Alabama to enforce some of the most controversial parts of its toughest-in-the-nation immigration law, ruling that certain measures do not violate federal law.

U.S. District Judge Sharon Blackburn ruled that Alabama can enforce the law’s requirements for schools to verify students’ immigration status, and for police to determine citizenship and status of those they stop, detain or arrest. Police are allowed to arrest anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant during a routine traffic stop, under the law.

But Blackburn granted the Obama administration’s request to block certain portions of the law until she makes a final ruling. Those sections include provisions making it a crime to transport or harbor an illegal immigrant, or for an illegal immigrant to look for or perform work. Blackburn also blocked parts of the law that allow discrimination lawsuits against companies that hire illegal immigrants when they discharge or fail to hire a U.S. citizen, and forbidding employers from claiming as business tax deductions wages paid to illegal immigrants.