Alabama governor signs nations toughest immigration law

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala (Reuters) - Republican Governor Robert Bentley on Thursday signed into law a crackdown on illegal immigration in Alabama that both supporters and critics consider the toughest in the nation.

Under the new measure, police must detain someone they suspect of being in the country illegally if the person cannot produce proper documentation when stopped for any reason.

It also will be a crime to knowingly transport or harbor someone who is in the country illegally. The law imposes penalties on businesses that knowingly employ someone without legal resident status. A company's business license could be suspended or revoked.

The law requires Alabama businesses to use a database called E-Verify to confirm the immigration status of new employees.

"We have a real problem with illegal immigration in this country," Bentley said after signing the law. "I campaigned for the toughest immigration laws and I'm proud of the Legislature for working tirelessly to create the strongest immigration bill in the country."

Alabama is the latest state to follow the lead of a controversial measure passed in Arizona last year. The courts blocked implementation of a provision allowing Arizona police to check the immigration status of people there.

But the U.S. Supreme Court recently endorsed a separate Arizona law requiring employers to use E-Verify. The court also ruled that Arizona could suspend or revoke business licenses of those companies that knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

Alabama's law is unique in requiring public schools to determine, by review of birth certificates or sworn affidavits, the legal residency status of students.

"We fear that it will, in effect, ban the student through fear and harassment," said Shay Farley, legal director of Alabama Appleseed, a nonprofit policy and legal advocacy organization.

Farley said there is also concern about the increased financial burden on schools to collect the information.

"We definitely believe this is the nation's toughest immigration law," said Jared Shepherd, a law fellow with the Alabama American Civil Liberties Union.

The Alabama bill passed the state House of Representatives and Senate by large margins before landing on Bentley's desk. Republicans took over majority control of both chambers of the Alabama legislature last year for the first time in 136 years.

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Democrats: BELIEVE in biometric Social Security cards

clipped from www.thirdfactor.com There are varying reports on whether immigration reform will be discussed in Congress in 2010, but if it is addressed one aspect that will likely be included is a biometric Social Security card for employment verification. Dubbed Biometric Enrollment, Locally-stored Information, and Electronic Verification of Employment, or BELIEVE, the card would be required to verify permanent residence when starting a new job. The Democrat-sponsored proposal would have the Social Security Administration issuing biometric cards 18 months after the law is passed. “These cards will be fraud-resistant, tamper-resistant, wear resistant, and machine-readable social security cards containing a photograph and an electronically coded micro-processing chip which possesses a unique biometric identifier for the authorized card-bearer,” states the conceptual proposal for immigration reform. The card would replace Homeland Security’s E-Verify system

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