Alabama House committee approves bill targeting immigrants 👽 🌮

[Maximum Overkill 2,402]

The House Judiciary Committee Wednesday  approved legislation that requires law enforcement to verify people’s immigration status during a stop if they have “reasonable suspicion” they are not authorized to be in the country.

SB 53, sponsored by Sen. Wes Kitchens, R-Arab, also makes it a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, for someone to knowingly transport a person without proper authorization into the state.

“The intent of this bill, what we are trying to do, is to provide tools for our law enforcement officers,” Kitchens told members of the committee. “If someone has broken the law, if the person has been arrested and taken to jail, to give the law enforcement officers and the jails, county, municipal, state jails, the authority they need to be able to verify immigration status when that individual was there.”

Jasmin Hernandez-Alamillo, the community health coordinator for the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice, a group that advocates for immigrants, attended the meeting and said he felt “utter devastation” at the vote.

“They are not recognizing human beings as human beings,” she said. “That makes me extremely upset because I come from immigrants. My family are immigrants. I work with immigrants every single day, and they do not see us as humans.”

The committee approved Kitchens’ bill one week after the committee hosted a public hearing in which members heard from several who spoke against the legislation, with one pastor telling the committee it violates Christian values, and a second person saying it could prevent people from obtaining the necessary paperwork to bring their children back to their home country in the event they are deported.

The Senate approved the legislation in February, after the body removed language related to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, that forced the public to assist slave catchers return people to bondage to the south.

https://alabamareflector.com/2025/04/17/alabama-house-committee-approves-bill-targeting-immigrants/

[easilyscan 1,004]

20 hours ago, Maximum Overkill said:

The House Judiciary Committee Wednesday  approved legislation that requires law enforcement to verify people’s immigration status during a stop if they have “reasonable suspicion” they are not authorized to be in the country.

Seems like that used to be the SOP in all states ? 

Is law enforcement required to verify people’s immigration status during a stop if they have “reasonable suspicion” they are not authorized to be in the country ?

No, law enforcement is generally not required to verify someone's immigration status during a routine traffic stop, even if they have a "reasonable suspicion" that the person is in the country illegally. However, if a person is stopped for a traffic violation, law enforcement can inquire about their immigration status if they have reasonable suspicion to believe the individual is committing a federal crime related to immigration. 

 

Is entering the US illegally considered a federal crime ?

Yes, illegally entering the US is a federal crime under 8 U.S.C. § 1325. This law outlines penalties for various actions, including entering the US at an unauthorized time or place, eluding immigration officers, or making false statements to gain entry.

There you go. If an officer suspects the person is in the country illegally, & that turns out to be true, it's a federal crime & he should be required to check the immigration status for the safety of the 'citizens' he is sworn to protect.

Those on the other side will come up with the baseless argument that it's not local law-enforcements job to enforce immigration laws. BS