Alabama's Immigration Law May Get A Second Look

http://www.npr.org/2012/02/07/146490508/alabamas-immigration-law-may-get-a-second-look

Business leaders got caught off guard when the bill passed, and it was quickly obvious that the new law would have a significant effect on economic development, especially after two foreign autoworkers — a German executive with Mercedes-Benz and a Japanese worker at a Honda plant — were detained under the law.

Missouri's St. Louis Post-Dispatch published an editorial inviting companies to relocate to the "Show Me State," not the "Show Me Your Papers" state.

"It's not like business prospects are sounding an alarm and coming to us and telling us that they are rethinking their plans to do business in Alabama," says Brian Hilson, CEO of the Birmingham Business Alliance. "It's the unknown. It's what they're not saying to us."

Hilson says there's no way to know how much business the state is losing, but researchers at the University of Alabama peg the cost at up to $11 billion in lost jobs and income- and sales-tax revenues. State Sen. Scott Beason rejects that number and any efforts to significantly change the law. Beason, a Republican, co-sponsored the original bill.

"If people begin to cave from political pressure, that donors want something changed, they'll have to do it against the vast majority of the people in their district and go with the small special-interest group that makes their decision based on profit," Beason says.

In a poll conducted last week, 42 percent of respondents said they support the law but think it goes too far. Already, several legislators have introduced bills to modify it, and the courts have ruled some provisions unconstitutional.

Still, there's no disputing that supporters of the law have achieved their main goal — driving illegal immigrants out of Alabama.