Latest news with #R-Arab
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alabama House committee approves bill targeting immigrants
The Hernandez Family joins a protest against anti immigration bills now proposed before Congress in Birmingham, Alabama,, on Saturday February 22, 2025. An Alabama House committee Wednesday approved legislation targeting immigrants. (Andi Rice for Alabama Reflector) The House Judiciary Committee Wednesday approved legislation that requires law enforcement to verify people's immigration status during a stop if they have 'reasonable suspicion' they are not authorized to be in the country. SB 53, sponsored by Sen. Wes Kitchens, R-Arab, also makes it a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, for someone to knowingly transport a person without proper authorization into the state. 'The intent of this bill, what we are trying to do, is to provide tools for our law enforcement officers,' Kitchens told members of the committee. 'If someone has broken the law, if the person has been arrested and taken to jail, to give the law enforcement officers and the jails, county, municipal, state jails, the authority they need to be able to verify immigration status when that individual was there.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Jasmin Hernandez-Alamillo, the community health coordinator for the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice, a group that advocates for immigrants, attended the meeting and said he felt 'utter devastation' at the vote. 'They are not recognizing human beings as human beings,' he said. 'That makes me extremely upset because I come from immigrants. My family are immigrants. I work with immigrants every single day, and they do not see us as humans.' The committee approved Kitchens' bill one week after the committee hosted a public hearing in which members heard from several who spoke against the legislation, with one pastor telling the committee it violates Christian values, and a second person saying it could prevent people from obtaining the necessary paperwork to bring their children back to their home country in the event they are deported. The Senate approved the legislation in February, after the body removed language related to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, that forced the public to assist slave catchers return people to bondage to the south. The bill offers several exceptions for people who are transporting people who are not legally authorized to live in the U.S. into Alabama, such as attorneys transporting clients to different immigration facilities or educators escorting their students for a school related activity. Members of the House Judiciary Committee approved other exemptions to the crime of human smuggling as part of an amendment. One is for health care providers transporting patients, if people are transporting people for religious or charitable reasons, or people that an attorney who represents an individual authorizes. 'Many times people are already afraid of law enforcement and are already afraid to tell them, 'Hey, something is going on, something is going wrong in my community, I need help.'' Hernandez-Alamillo said. ' Particularly as it involves human trafficking, and I think this will dampen those efforts to try and eliminate that issue in our society.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alabama Senate bill would require cities to disclose discretionary accounts
Sen. Wes Kitchens, R-Arab (right) speaks with Jess Skaggs, chief of staff to Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth (left) and Sen. Keith Kelley, R-Anniston (center) on the floor of the Alabama Senate on April 8, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. He filed legislation to require municipalities to publish information about discretionary accounts. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The Senate County and Municipal Government Committee approved a bill Tuesday that requires municipalities to disclose information about discretionary spending accounts that the jurisdiction created. SB 306, sponsored by Sen. Wes Kitchens, R-Arab, would require municipalities with discretionary accounts to publish both the balance and spending activity each month. 'What this does, it is really to have transparency in government,' Kitchens said to the committee. 'Different agencies, different elected officials who have discretionary accounts, it is to make it more accessible to people. Similar to what we go through with the campaign finance report, it would be publicized.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The bill would require government agencies, boards, commissions and departments to make that information available online through their website; with the Association of County Commissions of Alabama or with the Alabama League of Municipalities. Judges, district attorneys and clerks may also make that information public with the Administrative Office of the Courts. Kaleb Beck, legislative counsel for the Alabama League of Municipalities, spoke against the legislation during a public hearing. 'The League's first area of opposition is the resource burden this will place on our cities,' Beck said. 'For example, our smaller municipalities might lack the technical expertise or staff to, every month, format and upload these types of documents.' He said that municipal clerks that oversee less populated areas of the state already perform different functions, and the legislation will place them with another responsibility. 'If residents want this information published, this can be pushed for at the local level,' Beck said. 'We can trust that our municipal officials will be receptive to their constituents' wants and needs, and if not, they can be held accountable at the polls like every other elected official in the state.' After the public hearing, Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, said she would propose an amendment to the legislation to make it easier for the smaller jurisdictions to comply with the provisions with the bill. 'I understand the issue with the smaller municipalities, it may be an issue for them,' she said. 'If they didn't have the abilities to publicize it, some small towns may not have a website, but that it would be posted at city hall, a county courthouse, or whatever.' Kitchens said he is open to continue discussing the elements contained in his bill. 'This seems like an incredibly low bar for me to reach,' said Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, the chair of the committee. 'I am very supportive of your legislation.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Immigration advocates want bill allowing law enforcement to determine status rejected
Sen. Wes Kitchens, R-Arab, speaks on the floor of the Alabama Senate on May 8, 2024 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. The House Judiciary Committee hosted a public hearing for legislation he filed to require law enforcement to check people's immigration status and create the crime for human smuggling. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) Immigration advocates urged members of an Alabama House committee Wednesday to reject a bill targeting immigrants and potentially those who provide assistance to them. SB 53, sponsored by Sen. Wes Kitchens, R-Arab, would require law enforcement to determine the legal status of those they have a 'reasonable suspicion' of being in the country without status during stops. The bill also makes it a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, for a person to 'knowingly transport into this state another individual if he or she knows is an illegal alien,' which the bill defines as human smuggling. 'This bill came for our sheriffs, to give them the tools that they need,' Kitchens said prior to public hearing on the bill before the House Judiciary Committee. 'If someone is arrested, if someone is brought into a jail, whether it is a state, local or county jail, they have been arrested. This provides them really with a process, the clarity they need for the process to determine their immigration status.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Allison Hamilton, executive director of the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice, who spoke directly against the human smuggling provision in the legislation, saying it would make it illegal for family members to check on those threatened with deportation. 'Any family that is trying to make sure their family is not separated in the case of deportation has to leave the state in order to make sure that happens,' Hamilton said. 'This provision would make that impossible. Not only is it a huge risk for families to drive themselves across state lines with everything that is going on, but to criminalize anybody who just wants to be a good Samaritan and help, to make it a felony for someone to do that, is extremely concerning to us.' Shane Isner, senior minister with First Christian Church, said the bill conflicts with Christian values. 'I am here to say that compassion is not a crime,' he said. 'Compassion in the Scripture of my religion is a command; it is a duty.' He then invoked the parable of the Good Samaritan. 'At the end of the parable, Jesus said to his disciples, 'Go and do likewise,'' Isner said. The committee did not vote on the legislation on Wednesday. A vote could take place next week. SB 53 is receiving its first consideration in the House after it was approved in the Senate despite gathering sharp criticism over language in the original bill that echoed a section of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, which forced officials to help slave catchers trying to return people into bondage and threatened those who assisted escapes from enslavement with jail time and fines. The language was removed before the Senate approved the bill. . The bill provides a few exceptions to the smuggling provision, such as attorneys who are transporting their clients to different immigration facilities or teachers who are taking students on a field trip. SB 53 is one of several bills targeting immigration currently working their way through the Legislature. In the past month, members of the House Judiciary Committee approved legislation that allows local law enforcement to enter into agreements with the federal government to enforce the country's immigration laws and require labor brokers to register with the Alabama Department of Workforce and provide the state agency with a list of foreign nationals they recruit and employ for clients. The committee also approved a bill that enhances the penalties for crimes committed by people not legally authorized to live in the U.S. Rep. Tim Wadsworth, R-Arley, also had concerns with the human smuggling provision. As an immigration attorney, said he does not typically drive his clients to immigration centers to address a problem with their immigration status, they have family members or other people do that. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
