Federal court blocks portions of Alabama immigration law

Last week a federal judge blockedenforcement of several provisions of a controversial Alabama immigration law.

The injunction, issued by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, ordered that portions of the legislation be put on hold until the larger constitutional questions surrounding the law could be addressed.

The court order still allowed several of the law’s provisions to take hold including allowing police officers to determine the immigration status of an individual suspected of entering the country illegally.

In addition, the ruling allows Alabama to bar state courts from enforcing contracts involving undocumented immigrants and to make it a felony for illegal immigrants to engage in any business transactions including applying for a driver’s license or a business license.

Meanwhile the court order temporarily blocks the law’s provision that would require state officials to check the immigration status of students in public schools and to make it a misdemeanor for aliens to not carry an alien registration card.

The Obama administration maintains that the Constitution does not authorize states to enforce immigration and that is a responsibility solely in the hands of the federal government. Citing such arguments, the administration has sought to invalidate similar immigration laws across the country, most notably Arizona’s SB 1070.