Alabama's unjust past will effectively be connected to its unjust present next week, when immigrant rights advocates in Alabama join forces with Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network and a slate of other national groups on the Selma to Montgomery commemoration march. Continue »
If there's a controversial new anti-immigration law that's captured national attention, chances are that it has Kris Kobach's imprimatur. A telegenic law professor with flawless academic credentials—Harvard undergrad, Yale Law School—Kobach helped Arizona lawmakers craft the infamous immigration law that passed in the spring of 2010. Continue »
THE LAST SATURDAY of September—game day in Alabama, the Crimson Tide and Tigers both at home—Birmingham seemed to have all but emptied out, fans having bolted west to the big one in Tuscaloosa, or south for the rout in Auburn. I was heading north to the farmland of Cullman... Continue »
A federal appeals court pressed Georgia and Alabama attorneys Thursday on whether the states' new laws targeting illegal immigration conflict with federal rules and challenged critics of the crackdown to explain why local authorities can't use the measures to complement federal efforts. Continue »
Breaking news: Arizona's Sheriff Joe Arpaio is not just extremist, vindictive, and corrupt—he's a full-fledged, flaming, deny-the-facts birther as well. We wrote, last September, about how he assigned a five-member "Cold Case Posse" to investigate the authenticity of Barack Obama's birth certificate. Continue »
Today in Atlanta a three judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit will hear arguments over Alabama's and Georgia's anti-immigration laws. In mid-April, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments about Arizona's "show me your papers" law S.B. 1070, the precursor to the... Continue »
Mother Jones has an excellent series exploring the different aspects of issue of the immigration issue. The first article, by Paul Reyes, is titled, "'It's Just Not Right': The Failures of Alabama's Self-Deportation Experiment." The magazine also exposes the inner-workings of those agitators in articles about Kris Kobach and... Continue »
Alabama made recruiting auto manufacturers a top economic priority for the state. And, it's worked. Mercedes, Honda and Hyundai have plants in the state. Now, those car industry companies that Alabama prizes are facing pressure to join the fight against HB 56 Continue »
When Alabama first began implementing its HB 56 anti-immigrant law, the Southern Law Poverty Center (SPLC) set up a hotline for Alabama immigrants and residents to call in with comments and complaints about how the law has affected them. Continue »
Alabama's harsh immigration law can't be fixed and needs to be scrapped, a member of the state legislature said Monday. Sen. Billy Beasley, a Democrat who has introduced a bill to overturn the law, commented in a conference call organized by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has just... Continue »