Most heinously, the group says, there have been reports of police patrols driving around Latino neighborhoods like the one Isobel Gomez lives in near Birmingham that have her and other residents afraid to even go outside.
Immigrants and citizens in Alabama are standing up to fight against this discrimination. State Senator Billy Beasley has filed a bill to repeal this law. The U.S. Department of Justice has even stepped in to block parts of the law.
Moveon says, "Support from inside and outside Alabama will strengthen Sen. Beasley's and other local organizing efforts to repeal the entire law and bring relief to everyone impacted. Sen. Beasley said that one of the reasons he wants HB56 repealed is because "many folks didn't realize it would have such an impact.'"
The editor of Immigration Daily writes: "ICE announced that it deported nearly 400,000 people in Fiscal Year 2011 setting an all-time record. It is difficult to figure out exactly how many of the 400,000 were deported solely due to immigration violations, and how many due to criminal violations unrelated to immigration issues. 45% of those deported had only civil immigration offenses.
"It is unclear how large a percentage of the remaining 55% of felonies or misdemeanors were immigration-related. We look forward to the clarification of the breakdown of these numbers, to see if and to what extent the numbers conform to or depart from the stated enforcement priorities of the Obama administration."
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