Alabama's House Bill 56 (HB 56) -- the controversial legislation modeled after Arizona's SB 1070 regarding immigration detention matters and known as the toughest legislation in the U.S. targeting undocumented immigrants -- officially went into effect last summer. Since that time, the measure has been embroiled in an ongoing legal challenge and seen several of its more onerous provisions thrown out.
Nevertheless, much of the law is still on the books. For instance, the law requires all employers to register with the federal E-Verify program, requires schools to check citizenship status of new students, and makes it illegal for state residents to do business with people who don't have citizenship papers.
Interestingly, a recent report by Bloomberg News indicates that HB 56 may not be having the desired impact sought by its sponsors.
Specifically, one of the primary selling points of HB 56 in the state legislature was that it would force undocumented immigrants to leave the state, thereby creating thousands of jobs to be filled by Alabama residents. However, the report found that this isn't happening and that state employers are now having to spend even more money trying to fill vacancies.
The authors of the report determined that one of the primary problems with HB 56 is that it not only forced undocumented immigrants to leave the state, but legal immigrants as well.
Here, the authors theorize that many of these legal immigrants -- who otherwise comprised a large volume of the state's workforce in such industries as poultry plants, agriculture, construction, etc. -- were forced to leave because they had close relatives who were undocumented and/or because they no longer wanted to live in an inhospitable state.
While Alabama employers attempted to fill these job vacancies with state residents, they soon discovered that many native Alabamians either couldn't pass the background tests/screenings or would quit after only a few weeks.
Now, the authors of the report say that these employers have turned to hiring refugees from other states who are lawfully present here in the United States or residents of Puerto Rico (who are U.S. citizens). While these are certainly viable employment alternatives, the authors say that Alabama employers are nevertheless having to spend millions of dollars to replace and retrain their workforce.
Stay tuned for updates from our Los Angeles County immigration law blog ...
Due to the continued complexity of U.S. immigration laws with respect to naturalization and the exposure to facing a denial of this petition, it is critical to speak with a legal professional who has extensive specialized knowledge and experience in immigration law.
This post was provided for informational purposes only and is not to be construed as legal advice.
Source:
Fox News Latino, "Alabama employers recruit refugees from outside state to address labor shortage," Elizabeth Llorente, Sept, 24, 2012
?
imbibe msg network ray j anthony shadid gary carter this means war bobby brown
No comments:
Post a Comment