The state of Alabama is facing a legal challenge by the Obama administration over its anti-immigrant law, considered to be the harshest immigration law in the country, which requires law enforcement officials to question the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally.
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit on Monday in Birmingham on the basis that the law conflicts with federal immigration law.
“To put it in terms we relate to here in Alabama, you can only have one quarterback in a football game. In immigration, the federal government is the quarterback,” said Joyce Vance, United States attorney for the Northern District of Alabama.
The law, which will take effect on Sept. 1, goes several steps further on cracking down on unauthorized immigration. It would prohibit undocumented students from pursuing a higher education or looking for work and public schools would be required to investigate the immigration status of its students.
Last month, La Plaza reported that the law was also being challenged in court by a coalition of civil rights groups, and objection to the law is clearly mounting with religious leaders filing their own lawsuit against the measure on Monday.
The group of Roman Catholic, United Methodist and Episcopal bishops say the law “makes it a crime to follow God’s command to be Good Samaritans.”
The outcry over the law has not stopped supporters from defending it, including its sponsor, Republican state Rep. Micky Hammon.
“The Obama administration and the federal bureaucrats have turned a blind eye toward the immigration issue and refuse to fulfill their constitutional duty to enforce laws already on the books. Now, they want to block our efforts to secure Alabama’s borders and prevent our jobs and taxpayer dollars from disappearing into the abyss that illegal immigration causes,” Hammon said.
The first hearing, stemming from the lawsuit by the civil rights groups, has been schedule for Aug. 24 by U.S. District Judge Sharon Blackburn in Birmingham.
THERE IS ONLY BUT SO MUCH AMERICANS KNOW THAT A LOT OF THESE FOLKS WHO ARE HERE DON’T JUST CROSS BORDERS TO GET HERE. WHAT ABOUT THOSE WHO PAID FOR THE JOB PERMIT FROM THEIR COUNTRY AND GET STAMPED PAPERWORK/I-94 BUT OVERSTAYED THEIR TIME?
THERE ARE OTHERS THAT CAME ON THESE WORK PERMITS AND WERE TOLD THAT THEY WERE GOING TO GET 5 DAYS A WEEK AND WHEN THEY REACHED THEIR WORK PLACES THEY ONLY GOT THREE DAYS WHICH THUS LEAD TO AN OVERSTAY BECAUSE THEY ARE TRYING TO MAKE BACK THEIR MONEY SPENT FOR THESE JOB PERMITS.
AS FOR ME WHO CAME HERE THROUGH THESE WORK PERMITS AND HAVE BEEN TRAVELING TO THE U.S. FROM 2001 AND NEVER STAYED A DAY OVER MY TIME. BUT THIS LAST TIME I WAS GIVEN ONE MONTH ON THE VISA AFTER PAYING OVER $2000 FOR THE JOB AND AIRFARE. CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME HOW IT IS POSSIBLE TO MAKE BACK THAT MONEY IN ONE MONTH?
AFTER I HAVE GOTTEN ONE MONTH VISA I TALKED TO A U.S. IMMIGRATION LAWYER KNOWN AS MR. (ANDREW COLE) BEFORE I LEFT MY COUNTRY AND HE TOLD ME THAT HE GOT THE PETITION FOR ME TO WORK IN ALABAMA THOUGH MY VISA WAS NOT FOR ALABAMA. HE TOLD ME THAT THERE WAS NO PROBLEM, HE WOULD FILE FOR THE TRANSFER OF VISA/PETITION AND THE EXTENSION OF THE VISA AT NO CHARGE.
I CAME TO ALABAMA AND CONTACTED MR COLE AND START WORKING FOR HIS COMPANY (GIANT LABOUR SOLUTIONS / CRYSTAL MANAGEMENT). MONTHS PASS BY AND HE TOLD US YES HE ALREADY FILED FOR THE EXTENSION OF VISA
HE EVEN PRESENTED TO US PAPERWORK SHOWING ALL THE NAMES ON FILE. ON OUR THIRD PAY CHECK MY ROOM-MATE AND I FOUND OUT THAT HE WAS CHARGING US FOR AN APT BUT NEVER GOT US AN APARTMENT THEN I START CHECKING INTO THE SITUATION BECAUSE AT THE SAME TIME WE WERE GETTING CHECKS FROM A DIFFERENT COMPANY NAME EVERY WEEK. WE CALLED THEIR OFFICE AND ASK THEM WHAT WAS THE MEANING OF THIS APT THAT WAS ON OUR CHECK THEY TOLD US “APARTMENT.” BY THEN I FIGURED SOMETHING WAS WRONG SO WE TOLD THE PERSON WHO WE SPOKE TO IN THE OFFICE THAT WE RENT OUR OWN APARTMENT, SO THEY GAVE US BACK ALL THE MONEY THAT WAS WITHDRAWN FROM OUR SALARY.
I TOOK THINGS A LITTLE FURTHER BY CONTACTING ANOTHER IMMIGRATION LAWYER MR.( KEITH CORNETTE). I PAID MY CONSULTATION FEE AND SPOKE WITH HIM AND HE CHECKED IN ON THE SITUATION AND TOLD ME THAT THE VISA EXTENSION WAS FILED BUT IT WAS FILED LATE. BY THEN MY VISA WAS EXPIRED BCUZ I THOUGHT EVERYTHING WAS GOING THROUGH A US IMMIGRATION LAWYER.
A COUPLE MONTHS AFTER ALL THAT IT CAME OUT IN THE PAPERS THAT MR ANDREW COLE AND HIS ALLAINCE WERE ALL ARRESTED FOR FRAUD/HUMAN TRAFFICKING ETC. BY THE ICE IMMIGRATION. SO WHERE DID I GO WRONG? I HAVE NEVER BEFORE STAYED A DAY OVER MY TIME GIVEN BY TH IMMIGRATION BUT THERE IS ALWAYS SOMEONE TO TELL U THAT U ARE ILLEGAL BUT WHAT THEY DON’T KNOW IS THAT THERE ARE FOLKS HERE THAT ARE PAID PERMIT WORKERS. I AM FROM JAMAICA AND I KNOW FOR SURE THAT I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF ANYONE THAT SWAM ACROSS THE BORDER TO THE U.S. THAT IS NOT POSSIBLE. THAT MEANS I CAME IN THE COUNTRY LEGALLY.
THERE IS MORE TO THIS STORY BCZ I EVEN END UP IN JAIL BCZ OF ALABAMA POLICE RACIAL DISCRIMINATION.
PLZ DON’T GET ME WRONG NOT ALL OFFICERS ARE CORRUPT BUT THEY CAN’T ALL BE GOOD. BUT I WILL NEVER FORGET THE ONE WHO TOLD ME THAT I AM FROM JAMAICA SO DO U THINK THE JUDGE IS GOING TO BELIEVE U OVER US. TO ME IT WAS CLEAR THAT HE WAS TELLING ME THAT THE JUDGE WAS ALSO RACIST. I AM STILL HERE AWAITING TRIAL/THE TRUTH OVER 2 YEARS.
I HOPE I GET A CHANCE TO SPEAK WITH A NON RACIAL PERSON
THANKS
Andrew Cole is not an immigration attorney nor has he ever represented himself to be one. I’m sorry if you misunderstood something but I know for fact he has never claimed to be an immigration attorney.