>Federal Court Judge Blackburn upheld nearly all of the immigration legislation passed in Montgomery earlier this year. The judge’s 115 page ruling came as no surprise to most who have followed similar bills in other states but Alabama’s law will still be one of the most severe in the country.

Most of the provisions dealing with employment law (the part that will really affect our members) was not even challenged. So, as of the starting date of the new law (September 1, 2011) there are now
tougher sanctions for continuing to knowingly employ illegal aliens and as of April 1, 2012, all employers in Alabama must enroll in E-Verify or use the state department of Homeland Security’s service to check all new hires.

The sections of the law that were challenged but allowed to continue were those dealing with the checking of legal status by authorities such as when enrolling in school or being pulled over by the police. She even upheld the sections dealing with holding illegal aliens without bond as well as sections making contracts with illegal aliens null and void by prohibiting courts from enforcing those contracts as well as several other provisions.

There were only four provisions that did were blocked by the court. The first was a section making it illegal to apply for a job if you’re an illegal alien. The second was making it a crime for harboring or transporting illegal aliens. This is very similar to several other state’s laws and if this withstands appeals tests, could have a significant effect on many other states. The third provision blocked was one that made it illegal to deduct wages paid to illegal aliens on your taxes. Finally, the new law provided a way for citizens to file discrimination suits against a company who used illegal workers to displace legal workers.  That provision was also blocked.

All-in-all, a few surprises but not a lot. The most concern we’ve heard were those provisions dealing with E-Verify and employment of illegal aliens. Most of those provisions were not even challenged so it would have been a huge surprise of something had changed there. We will continue to monitor the situation and let you know if things change.

There are two good write-ups on the judge’s ruling on WSFA-TV’s site and on ALFA’s site. You can follow those links by clicking on their names above. We’d like to hear if there are labor shortages out there. Please email us if you are having trouble finding labor what you’ve had to do to fix the situation.

Dusty