A package of immigration legislation meant to complement and assist new federal policies under President Donald Trump is expected in Alabama’s upcoming legislative session, according to lawmakers working on the bills.
Republican members of the House and Senate have had multiple meetings in recent weeks, some of the work going back to last year.
“There are a lot of bills already drafted,” Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, told Alabama Daily News. “They range from dealing with driver’s licenses to presenting forged paperwork to a law enforcement officer to requiring registration of (sponsors of unaccompanied minors.)”
Elliott was one of several Alabama lawmakers who visited the U.S.’s southern border last year and began preparing legislation to try to limit illegal migration here, adopting the mantra “every state is a border state.”
Trump’s November victory, and a quick action on immigration last week, likely changed some of that proposed legislation from what it would have been under a Democrat-controlled White House.
“There is a desire for (legislative action on immigration),” Elliott said. “But the desire now is not to do it instead of the Biden administration, but in concert with the Trump administration.”
“We want to be complementary with what the feds are doing,” Elliott said. “My take on it, to the extent that they need help identifying folks who are here illegally and retaining them so they can be repatriated … we want to help our federal partners.”
Rep. Ben Robbins, R-Sylacauga, is helping organize the legislation filed in the House. He said state action isn’t as urgent now that Trump is president, but it’s still needed.
“We have a problem and if we don’t take certain actions now, we don’t know who the president will be in four years,” Robbins said. “We need to make sure we solve some of the current problems on the ground and keep Alabama safe in the future.”
He said lawmakers are trying to take a statewide approach to bills, but acknowledges immigration issues aren’t monolithic.
Sylacauga was one of the Alabama cities where last year residents raised concerns about recent Haitian immigrants in Alabama under a federal refugee program. Some school officials told ADN about language barriers and challenges among their new students. Other officials said local communities were not communicated with about the influxes.
Among his flurry of executive orders last week, Trump signed one to stop refugee arrivals and suspend the U.S. Refugee Admission Program later this month, pending a 90-day review and recommendations from Homeland Security, the State Department and others, The Associated Press reported.
Some of his other orders end U.S. citizenship for the children of parents living in the country illegally — that’s been temporarily blocked by a federal court — and give the Department of Homeland Security more latitude to establish agreements with individual state and local law enforcement agencies, “to the maximum extent permitted by law,” that empower those non-federal officials to act as federal immigration officers, the AP reported.
“We don’t want to overstep, but we want to be complementary,” Robbins said.
While immigration policy is largely federal, Robbins said there are policies the state can enact “that would help make the state safer and more transparent, as far as what’s happening with immigrants and who they are.”
Rep. Jennifer Fidler, R-Silverhill, has been part of the bill discussions and told ADN recently about a proposal to put a new fee on wire transfers of money to other countries.
Income taxpayers would get a credit for their fees when they file their returns, Fidler explained. But immigrants who do not pay income taxes would not, she said. Details of the bill are still being discussed, Fidler said, but one key component of it is that fees collected and kept would be distributed in geographical areas from where the transfers were sent. The goal is to replace some tax revenue not being captured by someone working in the country illegally, she said.
“It’s going to go back to that county, we all agree on that,” Fidler, a member of the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee, said. “It’s going to go back to the place where the burden is occurring, where the wire transfer originated.”
Fidler said how the money should be spent is still being discussed, but schools and law enforcement are likely recipients and others may be considered.
“We’ve got children in these schools trying to learn English, and teachers trying to teach them English, and this would help,” Fidler said.
The unaccompanied minor program Elliott referenced has long frustrated state officials. Run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, it releases lone, undocumented youths stopped at the border to sponsors in various states while they await immigration proceedings.
Alabama Daily News has previously reported that local schools see some of these minors enroll, but then stop attending school. Former Congressman Bradley Byrne in 2019 said federal statistics show that in 2018, nearly half of all immigration court removal orders for minors were ordered in absentia, meaning the minors were not in attendance.
In the last four fiscal years, 8,063 unaccompanied minors were released to sponsors in Alabama, according to federal data.
Beason Hammon Act, 14 years later
In 2011, the Legislature approved what was billed as the toughest in the nation anti-illegal immigration law. Nearly a dozen sections or subsections of the 65-page law were later struck down by federal courts. But much of the law still stands today. Some lawmakers said new legislation could modify and “fill in holes” of the Beason Hammon Act.
For example, it required businesses to participate in the federal E-Verify program that confirms the eligibility of employees to work in the United States by comparing information provided by the employee to Social Security Administration and U.S. Department of Homeland Security records. Previous attempts to ensure compliance have failed in the State House but Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, said Friday he expects to bring another bill this session.
“Unfortunately, it seems a lot of companies are not complying with the law,” Orr told ADN. “Consequently, I am looking at legislation to improve compliance.
“It’s not fair for some employers to be following the law and others to be ignoring or flouting it.”
What was enjoined:
Section 8: Would have prevented “an alien not lawfully present in the United States” from enrolling in the state’s public colleges and universities.
Section 10: Criminalized failing to register one’s immigration status.
Section 11(a): Made it illegal for an undocumented immigrant “to knowingly apply for work, solicit work in a public or private place, or perform work as an employee or independent contractor in this state.”
Section 13: Made it illegal to “conceal, harbor, or shield or attempt to conceal, harbor, or shield” an undocumented immigrant. It also prohibited rental agreements with undocumented immigrants.
Section 16: Said any wages paid by a business to an undocumented immigrant could not be counted as deductible business expense for any state income or business tax purposes.
Section 17: Made it illegal for Alabama businesses to fire or fail to hire documented workers while hiring or retaining undocumented workers.
Section 28: Required K-12 schools to check enrolling students’ immigration statuses and report annually to the Alabama State Department of Education about students’ statuses. The department would then share that information with the Legislature.
Nearly 20 sections of the 2011 law still stand. They are:
Section 4: Requires the state attorney general to attempt a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security “concerning the enforcement of federal immigration laws, detentions and removals, and related investigations in the State of Alabama.”
Section 5: State agencies and officials can’t limit the enforcement of federal immigration law by limiting communication with federal officials.
Section 6: No state agency or court could limit the scope of the act.
Section 9: Any entity doing business with the state or receiving state funds cannot hire undocumented immigrants and must participate in the federal E-Verify program to check employees’ documentation.
Section 12: During lawful stops, state and local law enforcement are to make reasonable attempts to determine a person’s immigration status, if it’s in question. If arrested and booked, an immigrant’s status will be verified with federal offices.
Section 14: Defines the crimes of having or selling false identifications.
Section 15: “No business entity, employer, or public employer shall knowingly employ, hire for employment, or continue to employ an unauthorized alien to perform work within the State of Alabama.” Beginning in April 2012, every business and employer in the state was to enroll in and use E-Verify.
Section 20: Arresting agencies shall notify Homeland Security of an undocumented immigrant who violates state law prior to his or her release from custody.
Section 21: If an undocumented immigrant is the victim of a crime in Alabama, enforcement of the 2011 law would be delayed until after any legal proceeding ends. But local and state agencies will “comply with any request by federal immigration officers to take custody of the person.”
Section 22: Allows the Alabama Department of Homeland Security, under the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, to hire officers.
Section 23: Gives the Alabama Department of Homeland Security the authority to work with local law enforcement as well as federal agencies.
Section 24: “Alabama Department of Homeland Security shall file a quarterly report to the Legislature on the progress being made regarding the enforcement of this act and the status of the progress being made in the effort to reduce the number of illegal aliens in the State of Alabama.”
Section 25: “A solicitation to violate any criminal provision of this act, an attempt to violate any criminal provision of this act, or a conspiracy to violate any criminal provision of this act shall have the same penalty as a violation of this act.”
Section 26: Requires the Alabama Department of Homeland Security to establish and maintain an E-Verify service for businesses with 25 or fewer employees to use.
Section 27: Invalidates contracts entered by undocumented immigrants if the other party knew or had reason to believe they were undocumented.
Section 29: Outlines the voter registration process and qualifications to “assess the eligibility of the applicant, including the applicant’s United States citizenship.”
Section 30: Says undocumented immigrants can’t have transactions with the state, including applying for a driver’s license or license plate.
The legislative session begins Tuesday.