Civil Rights Groups, Unions File Class Action Lawsuit Against Alabama's New Immigration Law Saying it's Unconstitutional

Civil rights groups and unions file class action lawsuit against Alabama's new immigration law, touted by Gov. Robert Bentley as "strongest immigration bill in the country," saying it's unconstitutional.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups have filed a class action lawsuit against Alabama's new immigration law set to take effect September 1, 2011. Gov. Robert Bentley touts its as "the strongest immigration bill in the country," but many others differ saying it's unconstitutional.

The federal class action claims Alabama House Bill 56 "is a state immigration law of unprecedented reach - going well beyond recent state immigration laws in Arizona, Utah, Indiana, and Georgia," and that it will force to submit to "unlawful interrogations, searches, seizures, and arrests, and will result in racial profiling."

PLAINTIFFS: the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama; AIDS Action Coalition; Huntsville International Help Center; Interpreters and Translators Association of Alabama; Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice; Service Employees International Union; Southern Regional Joint Board of Workers United; United Food and Commercial Workers International Union; United Food and Commercial Working Union Local 1657; DreamActivist.org; Greater Birmingham Ministries; Boat People SOS; Matt Webster; Maria Ceja Zamora; Pamela Long; Juan Pablo Black Romero; Christopher Barton Thau; Ellin Jimmerson; Robert Barber; Daniel Upton; Jeffrey Beck; Michelle Cummings; Esayas Haile; Fiseha Tesfamariam; and six Jane/John Does.

DEFENDANTS: Alabama Governor Robert Bentley; Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange; Joseph Morton, State Superintendent of Education; Freida Hill, Chancellor of Postsecondary Education; E. Casey Wardynski, Superintendent of the Huntsville City School System; Jamie Blair, Superintendent of the Vestavia Hills City School System; Randy Fuller, Superintendent of the Vestavia Hills City School System; Randy Fuller, Superintendent of the Shelby Country Public School System; Charles Warren, Superintendent of the DeKalb County Public School System; Barbara Thompson, Superintendent of the Montgomery County Public School System; Jeffery Langham, Superintendent of the Elmore County Public School System; and Madison County District Attorney Robert Broussard.

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