In June, Alabama passed HB 56, an anti-immigration law. The law, officially titled the “Beason-Hammon Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act,” is the toughest immigration law in America. If police have “reasonable suspicion” that someone stopped or detained for any reason is an immigrant, they are required to attempt to ascertain their immigration status. But failing to sufficiently harass Hispanic immigrants and citizens in Alabama could carry penalties for Alabama police officers.
Note the wording of the law: It does not “allow” the police to ask for proof of citizenship or immigration status. It requires them to do so. Police officers who fail to do this could be disciplined, and police organizations could be sued for failing to uphold the law. “Reasonable suspicion” is not defined. This invites widespread racial profiling and discrimination from police forced to examine the citizenship status of anyone they “reasonably suspect” of being an immigrant — a suspicion most likely to be based on perceived ethnicity.
It also requires Alabama public schools to prove the citizenship status of students. Illegal immigrants or their children are not prevented from attending school, but schools are required to report lists of suspected illegal immigrants to state officials.
This has already had widespread consequences for Alabama schools and children: More than 2,000 Hispanic children did not attend school last week. Many are staying home with their families, afraid that state officials will take away their parents. Others are fleeing the state. One Alabama student told a National Public Radio reporter, “I think they’re gonna come in our house and come kick the door, and they’re gonna take my mom and dad.”
Laws like HB 56 do little more than make life difficult for Hispanic citizens and legal immigrants. For some supporters, that may be enough: The racial undertones of the law cannot be ignored. And the problem they are meant to solve may be overstated.
Illegal immigrants do less harm to the American economy than some believe. A long-term study of taxes paid by illegal immigrants showed that they paid around $90 billion in taxes between 1996 and 2003. And in 2006, they contributed $428 billion to America’s gross domestic product.
Even if this law did protect American citizens and the U.S. economy, is it worth it? How many people are truly hurt or personally affected by illegal immigration? Is it worth 2,000 Alabama children staying home from school for fear their parents will be taken away? Is it worth hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants and citizens being harassed by the police for their ethnicity or skin color?
The answer is no. Even if these laws were practical, even if they achieved what they were meant to achieve, they would not be ethical. There would be no moral defense for them.
There are good laws that address illegal immigration. Texas’ Dream Act is an example. It gives the children of illegal immigrants a chance to receive an education, even a scholarship to Texas state colleges. It addresses the economic impacts of illegal immigration not by pushing immigrants away, but by giving them a chance to become educated, productive members of the American workforce. It gives them a chance to give even more back to America.
These are the kinds of immigration laws we need: Not laws to stop immigration, but laws to help illegal immigrants become legal.