Alabamas Law Should Make Democrat or Republican Choice Crystal Clear

In June of last year, Alabama signed into law an egregiously harsh immigration law, House Bill 56. The law mirrors Arizonas, but went even further by requiring Alabamas public schools to check the immigration status of their children. As a result, Hispanic student absences have increased and in essence Alabama is failing to provide them an education to which they are entitled under a right upheld by the Supreme Court in 1982's Plyler v. Doe. As could have been predicted, after being in effect for about two weeks, last fall a Federal Appeals Court blocked the public school requirement, as well as other elements. Effectively, the court may have halted this provision of Alabamas law, but that hasnt stopped it from wreaking havoc on schools around the state, according to the Center for American Progress. They cite 10 reasons why the law is a disaster for education. Last month, as a result of the federal courts ruling, protests, and damaging economic reports, the Alabama legislature approved changes to the law (house bill 658) that includes eliminating the requirement that school officials check the immigration status of students. Instead, the Alabamas Department of Education must produce an annual report on the cost of educating illegal immigrants, according to ImmigrationImpact.com. HB 658 is now pending in Alabamas Senate. However, changes in the law that make the examination of a childs immigration status no longer obligatory, checking a students immigration status will still be within a schools purview. So much so, apparently, that on Thursday Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez felt it necessary to warn Alabama's Superintendent of Education Thomas Bice that the law has diminished access to and quality of education for many of Alabama's Hispanic children, resulted in missed school days, chilled or prevented the participation of parents in their children's education, and transformed the climates of some schools into less safe and welcoming spaces for Hispanic children. And also predictable, the states that have taken Arizonas lead with this obsessive fear of people whose only crime is trying to better themselves, but who apparently dont have the wherewithal to become citizens, are all Republican states: Georgia, Alabama, Utah, Indiana and South Carolina. To many there are no differences between Obama and Romney. However, there are differences, and in particular on the issue of illegal immigration. If you are one who believes their country should walk the talk on what America claims to be her

values, values that apply to all people, citizen or not, then dont vote for folks that have these draconian views and make these unconscionable laws. On the other hand, if you believe that the creation of wealth supersedes humanitarian values, equality and civil rights, by all means, vote for the folks who do. The choice could not be clearer.