Alabama passes the toughest immigration laws in the nation

  The federal government does not take the issue of illegal immigration seriously and this is not a Democrat problem alone. Both parties are guilty of being soft on illegal aliens and one needs to look no further than President Bush to find an example of a Republican who was not tough on illegal immigration.

  There are plenty of immigration laws on the books that could be enforced to crack down on the illegal invasion of America but the federal government refuses to enforce these laws so the states have begun to take on this issue themselves. The most notable example is naturally in Arizona where the tough immigration policy they passed is being challenged in the courts by the federal government, but there are other states as well which are enacting tougher immigration laws.

  The latest example comes by way of Alabama, whose new law requires schools to verify the immigration status of students, requires the police to arrest any suspect illegal immigrant who can’t provide proof of citizenship, makes it a crime to knowingly transport an illegal alien, and requires companies to use  E-Verify to verify the citizenship of any possible employee or face huge fines.

  Alabama’s new immigration law is considered to be the toughest in the country and, much like Arizona, this legislation will be challenged by the federal government and in my opinion some of the bill will be ruled unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has already ruled that Arizona can constitutionally require companies to use E-Verify and punish those companies which hire illegal aliens, so these portions of the Alabama law will be upheld, but the rest of the law stands no chance of being ruled constitutional.

 Whether you like it or not, the constitution grants the federal government the authority to regulate immigration which takes this issue away from the states. On these grounds I expect both the Arizona law and parts of the Alabama law to be ruled unconstitutional, but with the federal government unwilling to enforce the immigration law, what these bills do is help to highlight the failings of the federal government.

  These states are shining a spotlight on the federal government and while we cannot expect this to affect the Obama regime or their enforcement of federal immigration laws perhaps this will benefit the American people moving forward as any candidate who wishes to beat Barack Obama could be put on notice that the American people are fed up with the  lackadaisical attitude of the federal government in regard to illegal immigration. This could provide a willing Republican with a chance to take a hardline stance on illegal immigration and set himself ahead of the field moving forward into the next election. The only question is; is there anyone out there willing to take this issue seriously and do something about it?