Birmingham, Ala., Sep 28, 2011 / 22:48 pm
A federal judge approved key parts of a new Alabama law targeting illegal immigrants, but also temporarily blocked some measures. The blocked provisions include one that religious leaders said would affect their ministry and pastoral care to the undocumented.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Blackburn on Sept. 28 said the U.S. Constitution allowed Alabama’s new requirements to report the immigration status of juvenile students in public schools and requirements that police verify the immigration status of those they suspect to be in the country illegally.
She temporarily blocked measures which made it a crime for an illegal immigrant to solicit work and criminalized the transport or harboring of an illegal immigrant, the Associated Press reports. She also temporarily blocked a provision to allow discrimination lawsuits against companies that dismiss legal workers while hiring illegal immigrants and a provision to forbid business from taking tax deductions for wages paid to workers in the country illegally.
The measures will be blocked until the judge issues a final ruling.
Both supporters and critics say the Alabama law is the nation’s toughest.