The judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn of Federal District Court in Birmingham on Wednesday upheld most of the provisions of new immigration law of Alabama including the public school enrollment. This gives the authorities the power to question the people suspected to have made illegal entry in the country and hold them without bond. By this ruling Alabama has turn out the first state in the nation to require public schools to check the immigration status of students when they enroll. Those who favour the law argue that the law helps to keep a track of the illegal immigrant students in the nations and calculate the costs spend on their education and will no way obstruct the enrollment in schools. But the opponents argue that the law when taken in its broader perspective deprive many innocent children from their constitutional right of education in case they do not have sufficient documents with them. Civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups are soon to go for an appeal whereas the Obama administration on Friday went for an appeal against this ruling on the ground that immigration is a federal matter under U.S. Constitution and state has no authority to make patchwork on that subject.

The law was said to be consistent with other laws except for the provision that empowers the police to ask people for their immigration papers .The law is likely to reduce the financial burden of illegal immigration. Meanwhile Blackburn had blocked the operation of several portions until a final ruling is made. Some of those provisions blocked were concerned with criminalization of certain acts like transportation and harbouring of an illegal immigrant, solicitation of work by an illegal immigrant, allowing discrimination suit to be filed against those companies that hires illegal immigrants while dismissing other workers, forbidding tax deductions to wages paid to illegal immigrants, barring illegal immigrants from attending public colleges and drivers from stopping to hire temporary workers, making federal verification the only means to determine the legality of a person etc.

Alabama Immigration law approved by the District Court

Reported by Lydia Chitra Jacob