ACLU Lens: Federal Court Ruled Alabama Can’t Check Students' Immigration Status

Alabama’s outrageous attempt to deny some immigrant children their right to education is among the provisions that was rejected Monday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. The Atlanta-based court also blocked other harmful parts of Alabama and Georgia’s anti-immigrant laws, including those that attempted to criminalize everyday actions with undocumented immigrants.

But the court left room for narrow implementation of certain ‘show me your papers’ provisions, which the ACLU and a civil rights coalition will continue to fight against.

“The court today rejected many parts of Alabama and Georgia’s anti-immigrant laws, including attempts to criminalize everyday interactions with undocumented immigrants and Alabama’s callous attempt to deprive some children of their constitutional right to education,” said Omar Jadwat, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project. “The court explicitly left the door open to further challenges against the ‘show me your papers’ provision, which we will continue to fight in order to protect people’s constitutional rights.”

The ACLU and its coalition partners are challenging anti-immigrant laws in Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah because they lead to racial profiling and put everyone’s civil rights at risk.

In the News:

• Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/court-ala-schools-cant-check-student-immigration-status-police-can-ask-for-suspects-papers/2012/08/20/2ec33146-eb13-11e1-866f-60a00f604425_story.html
• USA Today’s On Deadline blog: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/08/us-court-bans-ala-from-checking-kids-immigration-status/1#.UDLbC8hWpBs

ACLU Know Your Rights Materials:

• Know Your Rights: Supreme Court Rules on Arizona Immigration Law (en Español)
• Know Your Rights: SB1070 Supreme Court Ruling and Georgia's Anti-Immigrant Law (en Español)
• Know Your Rights: SB1070 Supreme Court Ruling and South Carolina's Anti-Immigrant Law (en Español)
• Know Your Rights: SB1070 Supreme Court Ruling and Utah's Anti-Immigrant Law (en Español)

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