Feds Let Alabama Wallow In Its Mess

The federal government’s official position on Alabama’s immigration law seems to be to let the state wallow in it’s own mess. I don’t think the feds even have plans for an after-mess clean-up.

Although she didn’t exactly say it in as many words, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano implied as much at a recent congressional hearing. According to Politico.com

Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, Napolitano was asked by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) whether her department has been working with Alabama officials to aid the implementation of the law, which is regarded as one of the toughest in the nation. Napolitano said no, adding that the DHS has instead been “working with the Department of Justice on its challenge to that law.”

Feel free to read between the lines, although there’s not much hidden in Napolitano’s statement. Alabama’s on its own on this one.

At the most blatant level Alabama approved the law as a protest to what they call the federal government’s inability to safeguard the border and stop the flow of undocumented workers. So why would the federal government want to help?

At another level, the law has triggered so much collateral effect that it’s wise for Napolitano to sit back and watch the fallout. Apart from the effects that are well known and well covered in the news, that are others that are just now surfacing. Fox News Latino reports that judges in the state are confused as to how to implement the law and are making things up as they go:

In some areas, police are setting up roadblocks near mobile home communities where Hispanic people live.

One municipal judge opened court by saying that anyone without a driver’s license would be arrested under the law. Another judge told spectators that the need for an interpreter could be considered evidence against someone.

In Huntsville, accordiong to al.com

If a person is driving without a license and the officer cannot electronically verify they have a valid license, they are to be taken to a local magistrate and their immigration status is to be verified.

Meanwhile, some Alabama lawmakers are finding new ways to stick their feet in their mouths. The Huffington Post reported Alabama state Sen. Scott Beason told the Birmingham News that the law

was not designed to go out and arrest tremendous numbers of people. Most folks in the state illegally will self-deport and move to states that are supportive of large numbers of illegals coming to their state. We were not putting together a deportation scheme.

Beason doesn’t really care where the undocumented go – to another country or another state, as long as they leave his state.

It’s no wonder. When the law was enacted it was so wide that  it left ample room for many interpretations. Again Fox Latino:

It covers a wide range of everyday life, from making it illegal to give an undocumented immigrant a ride and requiring schools to check students’ citizenship status to barring contracts with undocumented immigrants and making them carry documents.

So Homeland Security is keeping its distance from this mess, and who can blame them? Alabama brought this mess on themselves and now their economy, their legal system and their reputation is suffering. But Napolitano won’t stay away from Alabama forever. She’s put the full weight of her department to work in helping the Justice Department in its lawsuit against this immigration law. And that’s not exactly a broom; it’s more like a sledgehammer.