The Justice Department
filed a motion today in a federal appeals court to halt implementation of Alabama's extreme immigration law, saying it "could have dire diplomatic consequences abroad, invites discrimination and merely forces illegal immigrants into neighboring states."
The motion, filed in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, claimed Alabama's new law is "highly likely to expose persons lawfully in the United States, including school children, to new difficulties in routine dealings."
A federal judge earlier upheld two key provisions in the law that allow authorities to question people suspected of being in the country illegally and hold them without bond, and let officials check the immigration status of students in public schools.
Those measures have already taken effect and will remain in effect while the appeals court weighs the Justice Department's request. The provisions help make the Alabama law stricter than similar laws passed in Arizona, Utah, Indiana and Georgia. Federal judges in those states have blocked all or parts of those measures.
The law has led to hundreds of children being pulled out of school, families fleeing the state, and an agricultural crisis as farm workers have been driven away. Alabama's response? Put prisoners to work. We all know how that worked out for Georgia.
The motion can be read in full here [PDF].