The Center for American Progress published a comprehensive list of the ill effects of Alabama’s H.B. 56, covering issues across the board: public health, families, government, economy, rule of law, faith communities, safety, and much more. Below is an excerpt from the beginning of the article:
100 Reasons Why Alabama’s Immigration Law is a disaster
By Center for American Progress Immigration Team
Alabama’s H.B. 56, signed into law on June 9, 2011, is the nation’s harshest anti-immigrant law. The bill makes it a crime to be without status, requires law enforcement to check the papers of anyone they suspect of being undocumented, mandates that public schools check the legal status of their students, abrogates any contract made with an undocumented immigrant, and makes it a felony for undocumented immigrants to contract with a government entity (even for a service as fundamental as water connection).
From endangering all Alabamans’ health and safety to undermining the rule of law and economic growth, here are the 100 reasons why this law is becoming a train wreck for the state in every way imaginable:
10 numbers you need to know about the law
1. 2.5 percent—The percentage of Alabama’s population that is undocumented.
2. $40 million—A conservative estimate of how much Alabama’s economy would contract if only 10,000 undocumented immigrants stopped working in the state as a result of H.B. 56.
3. $130 million—The amount Alabama’s undocumented immigrants paid in taxes in 2010.
4. $300,000—The amount one farmer, Chad Smith of Smith Farms, estimates he has lost because of labor shortages in the wake of H.B. 56.
5. 2,285—The number of Hispanic students who did not attend class on the first Monday following the judge’s ruling upholding key parts of H.B. 56., including the provision mandating schools to check the immigration status of students.
6. 15 percent—The percentage of absent Hispanic students (at peak) too afraid to attend school, comprising 5,143 children, since the law went into effect.
7. 1.3 percent—The percentage of Alabama schoolchildren who are not citizens of the United States.
8. 2,000—The number of calls made in the first week to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s hotline.
9. $1.9 million—The amount of money that was spent by Arizona to defend S.B. 1070, a similar anti-immigrant law.
10. $2.8 billion—What it would cost the government if they were to deport all 120,000 undocumented migrants in Alabama.
Read more: [Center for American Progress]