Alabama passed an extreme anti-immigrant law in June 2011. The law threatened to chill children’s access to public schools by requiring school officials to verify the immigration status of children and their parents; authorized police to demand “papers” demonstrating citizenship or immigration status during traffic stops; and criminalized Alabamians for everyday interactions with undocumented individuals. The SPLC led a coalition of civil rights groups in filing a federal class action lawsuit that resulted in an agreement that effectively gutted the law.
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Features and Stories
The Southern Poverty Law Center is leading a coalition of civil rights groups in filing a federal lawsuit challenging Alabama’s extreme anti-immigrant law, passed last month and inspired by Arizona’s notorious SB 1070.
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Alabama’s new anti-immigrant law, signed last week by Gov. Robert Bentley, will set back years of civil rights progress in the state and have devastating economic consequences.
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Yesterday, the Alabama Legislature fell into the same costly trap as neighboring Georgia by following the ill-fated footsteps of Arizona and passing harsh anti-immigrant legislation. The bill, H.B. 56, will not only set back years of progress on civil rights in the state but will also add considerably to Alabama's existing budget crisis.
The public school system of Mobile County, Ala., violated the constitutional rights of students by suspending them for months at a time over minor misbehavior without giving parents and guardians an opportunity to defend them. The SPLC filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of six students suspended for apparent minor misbehavior such as un-tucked shirts, tardiness or failing to carry a school ID.
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The Mobile County (Ala.) Public School System has violated the constitutional rights of students by suspending them for months at a time over minor misbehavior without giving parents and guardians an opportunity to defend them, according to a federal lawsuit filed today by the SPLC.
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A congressional delegation led by U.S. Rep. John Lewis laid a wreath at the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery to honor the men and women who sacrificed their lives during the civil rights movement. About 300 people took part in the solemn ceremony on March 5.
Students in Birmingham, Ala., schools were sprayed with pepper spray as punishment for routine offenses. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of district students to end the practice and other abusive and unconstitutional behavior.
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The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed a federal class action lawsuit today targeting the use of mace on Birmingham City School children as a means of basic school discipline. The suit was filed on behalf of district students who have been brutalized with chemical weapons and other excessive force.
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Given the current epidemic of anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) bullying and related student suicides across the country, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) calls on the Alabama State Department of Education (the SDE) to revise its Model Anti-Harassment Policy (the Model Policy) so that it protects all students, including LGBT students.
