"Today, Alabama effectively turned state workers, peace officers, and school teachers into de facto immigration agents.  Immigrants and people of color will be subjected to additional, unconstitutional scrutiny when they take their children to school or interact with local law enforcement officers.  Friends and family members of undocumented immigrants will face criminal charges simply for driving them to church or to the grocery store.

"By passing HB 56, Alabama's legislators have deemed an entire class of people not worthy of the most fundamental rights, which were carefully prescribed to all people by our Founding Fathers.  This law effectively makes immigrants the latest group of people to suffer a legalization of discriminatory behavior against them, and threatens to turn back the clock on our hard-won civil rights.

"Americans -- regardless of the way they look or sound, or where they were born -- deserve nothing less than to see this egregious affront to our basic liberties taken to court.  We will join our colleagues from other civil rights organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center, to ensure that Alabama joins Arizona, Utah, Indiana, and Georgia in a legal battle over this unconstitutional law that flies in the face of American values and undermines our basic concept of freedom.

"We are confident that the federal court will strike down Alabama's law as unconstitutional.  We will continue to support the efforts of Alabamans and people across the country who are continuing the state's rich organizing tradition to challenge this unjust law."

For NILC's latest map showing the status of Arizona-inspired legislation across the country, visit: <www.nilc.org/immlawpolicy/LocalLaw/Threat-Levels-Map.pdf>.