ACLU To File Lawsuit Challenging Alabama’s New Anti-Immigrant Law
June 9, 2011
The American Civil Liberties Union
and the ACLU of Alabama said today that they will file, in coalition with other
civil rights groups, a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of
The law’s key provisions sanction
discriminatory and unconstitutional practices by police officers, landlords and
employers by inviting racial profiling of Latinos and others based on how they
look or talk, violating the First Amendment and interfering with federal law.
Under the extreme law,
The following can be attributed to:
Olivia Turner, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama
"By signing this bill into law,
Gov. Bentley is willing to sacrifice the civil liberties of all Alabamans,
eroding the rights of millions of people living and working in this state. This
law undermines core American values of fairness and equality, subjecting both
citizens and non-citizens alike to unlawful racial profiling, and does nothing
to ensure the safety and economic security of
Cecillia Wang, director of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project
“This law is an outrageous throw-back
to the pre-Civil Rights era, going beyond the discriminatory and
unconstitutional police practices that we’ve seen in other states. It blocks
the schoolhouse doors to children, will result in people being turned away when
they try to rent a home, and places burdens on people of color at the voting
booth. By signing this bill into law, Gov. Bentley has codified official
discrimination in the State of
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