ACLU Lens: Appeals Court Blocks Two Sections of Alabama Anti-Immigrant Law Fought by ACLU
Two of the more-pernicious sections of HB56, Alabama's sweeping anti-immigrant law, were blocked this afternoon by a federal appeals court. However, the judges left intact other parts of the law, which has prompted thousands of immigrants in Alabam...
Categories: Alabama Tags:
"One of Alabama’s Worst Times Since Jim Crow."
Scott Douglas, III, Executive Director of Greater Birmingham Ministries describes Alabama's new anti-immigration law as a cynical effort to "put families on the run and divide them." Douglas compares the law to the fugitive slave acts, saying...
Categories: Alabama, immigrants Tags:
Report From Alabama: Ferrying Panicked Families, and Fighting Racial Profiling at Schools
I'm in Alabama reporting on the panic that has engulfed this state's communities following the enactment of H.B. 56, the most draconian anti-immigrant law in the nation. Afraid to drive, parents are pulling their children out of school, and have st...
Categories: Alabama, H.B. 56, immigrants' rights, immigration discrimination, racial profiling Tags:
ACLU Lens: Alabama in Chaos as Residents Flee After Immigration Law Takes Effect
Alabama has been in a state of utter chaos following a federal judge’s Sept. 28 ruling upholding some of the worst provisions of H.B. 56, the state’s draconian anti-immigrant law. The ACLU and ACLU of Alabama, along with a coalition of civ...
Categories: Alabama, H.B. 56, immigrants' rights, immigration discrimination Tags:
Shame on Alabama
In the six days since Alabama's extreme anti-immigrant law has been in effect, the impact on communities across the state has been chilling. Parents are pulling their children out of school for fear of being forced to reveal their immigration statu...
Categories: Alabama, Department of Justice, Eric Holder, immigrants' rights, immigration enforcement, Robert Bentley Tags:
Attica 40 Years Later: Much Progress, But Much Still Left to Do
On September 9, 1971, in response to brutal living conditions and oppressive policies, prisoners rose up and took control of New York's Attica prison. The prisoners held more than 30 prison staff hostage, taking care to protect them from additional...
Categories: Alabama, Attica, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, health care, HIV, hunger strike, prison, prisoners' rights, shackling, solitary confinement Tags:
Core Civil Liberties Threatened in State Legislatures: Three Trends to Watch
State legislatures are ground zero in the fight for civil liberties. Although they may not attract as much attention as debates in Congress or arguments in the Supreme Court, they are the source of unprecedented assaults on our most fundamental righ...
Categories: abortion, abortion insurance ban, Alabama, Arizona, Florida, health insurance, immigrants' rights, Planned Parenthood, pregnancy, racial profiling, sb1070, voter id, voter suppression, voting rights, Wisconsin Tags:
ACLU and DOJ Argue Alabama Immigration Law Is Unconstitutional
The ACLU was in a packed federal district court in Birmingham Wednesday arguing, with the U.S. Department of Justice and the bishops of the Episcopal, Catholic and Methodist churches, that Alabama's new anti-immigrant law, House Bill 56, should b...
Categories: Alabama, hb56, immigrants' rights, immigration discrimination Tags:
ACLU Lens: Justice Department Sues to Block Alabama Immigration Law Previously Challenged by ACLU
The government has filed a suit against Alabama’s draconian anti-immigrant law, which it said conflicts with federal laws and makes it too easy for police to detain people suspected of being in the country illegally. Modeled on Arizona’s in...
Categories: Alabama, Arizona, immigrants, sb1070, search and seizure, show me your papers Tags:
Why Have a Jury?
In Alabama, as we’ve discussed here before, elected judges have the authority to override the jury’s sentencing decision in death penalty cases – in other words, a judge can sentence a person to die even if a jury of hisher peers d...
Categories: Alabama, capital punishment, death penalty, execution, life sentence, Montez Spradley Tags: