.jpg)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Joseph Rendeiro
(202) 776-1566
jrendeiro@nclr.org
Washington—As civil rights leaders and advocates marched into Montgomery, Ala., last Friday, participants were overjoyed to learn that a federal appeals court had blocked two extreme provisions in Alabama’s anti-immigrant law, HB 56, which prevented individuals from entering into contracts with undocumented immigrants and banned state and local agencies from doing business with undocumented immigrants. NCLR (National Council of La Raza) is pleased that the courts took action against these egregious and downright dangerous provisions, heeding the calls of the thousands of people who marched from Selma to Montgomery last week and demanded an end to these discriminatory policies.
“As news of the court decision trickled down the line of marchers, you could almost feel a jolt of energy reinvigorate the crowd as we entered Montgomery,” said Isabel Rubio, Executive Director of the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama (¡HICA!), an NCLR Affiliate that is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the law. “These are among the harshest provisions in HB 56, designed to make it impossible for immigrants to go about their day-to-day lives, whether that means accessing essential utilities like power and water or accessing justice through the enforcement of contracts in court. Blocking these provisions is a huge win and sends a message to the rest of the country that the rights that we are marching for should not and cannot be denied to our communities.”
Rubio, along with NCLR Board Chair Daniel Ortega, participated in a rally at the Montgomery Capitol last Friday to close out the week-long reenactment of the 1965 march. Channeling the original marchers whose struggles ultimately led to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the participating civil rights groups are pushing back against the unjust voter ID laws and immigration laws, such as Alabama’s HB 56, that attempt to disenfranchise and discriminate against communities of color across the nation.
“Voter suppression laws and profiling laws like HB 56 are not solutions, they are attempts to turn back the clock on civil rights,” said Ortega. “We can’t let that happen. Thanks to a lot of hard work and goodwill, we have been able to fight back against bigotry in Arizona. We intend to do the same in Alabama.”
NCLR offers tremendous praise and gratitude to the thousands of civil rights organizations, leaders, and advocates who walked side by side throughout the week to demand an end to Alabama’s discriminatory laws.
“In an extraordinary show of support from the African American community, immigration is one of the key focal points of this year’s commemoration of the historic Selma to Montgomery march,” said Janet Murguía, NCLR President and CEO, who helped open the march last Sunday.
Murguía marched with Congressman John Lewis (D–Ga.), Ethel Kennedy and her daughter Kerry, Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, Rev. Jesse Jackson, and a host of other civil rights leaders on Sunday—commemorating the 47th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery march and Bloody Sunday.
“The Black community knows as we do that anti-immigrant laws and voter ID laws are really an all-out assault on civil rights,” Murguía added. “We are deeply proud to be marching with our African American brothers and sisters, and NCLR is very appreciative of the strong commitment from our sister Latino organizations to this important event.”
Those who were unable to participate in the march can stand behind efforts to repeal Alabama’s HB 56 by signing this petition.
NCLR—the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. For more information on NCLR, please visit www.nclr.org or follow along on Facebook and Twitter.
###