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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Julian Teixeira
(202) 776-1812
jteixeira@nclr.org
NCLR condemns upholding of “papers please” provision
Washington, D.C.—Today, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a mixed message when it handed down its decision to block enforcement of some of the more troubling provisions related to school enrollment in Alabama’s HB 56 while upholding the law’s notorious “papers please” provision.
“Schools should be safe and welcoming places of learning, not checkpoints for immigration enforcement,” said Janet Murguía, President and CEO of NCLR (National Council of La Raza). “We are pleased that the 11th Circuit Court handled this portion of the ruling in a sensible way, allowing educators to once again focus on educating their students.
“However, the provisions of the law that remain in effect are unquestionably unacceptable. We thought Alabama had moved beyond its unfortunate past with civil rights and that racial profiling was a mistake that the state did not see fit to repeat. Clearly, we were wrong, and we are extremely disappointed that the courts have once again failed to protect Alabamians from this severe law.”
The injunction issued from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta blocked two extremely controversial and dangerous provisions that created chaos and confusion in the state in the wake of their implementation. The first required educators to check the immigration status of students, which resulted in thousands of children being removed from Alabama’s classrooms. The second, a registration provision, made it a state crime to be undocumented in Alabama. However, the court did not block other problematic portions of the law. The “papers please” provision requires that police verify the immigration status of anyone they stop and suspect of being undocumented, and another provision makes it a felony for undocumented individuals to enter into a business transaction with the state.
“We applaud the Department of Justice and especially Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez for their tireless efforts to stop this appalling law on behalf of the Obama administration,” Murguía added. “Regrettably much damage has already been done and thousands of families and children have already and unnecessarily fled the state.”
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