Alabama’s legislature is currently considering legislation modeled on Arizona’s anti-immigrant statue that resulted in boycotts of that state. It also incorporates laws struck down in Farmers Branch, Texas. Alabama cannot afford to follow in the footsteps of Arizona and Farmers Branch.
Attacking the Constitution: State Legislators for Legal Immigration & the Anti-Immigrant Movement profiles 12 leading members of State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI), which has announced a national campaign to end the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of citizenship for all children born in the United States.
The Southern Poverty Law Center and Disability Rights Mississippi filed a lawsuit against Forrest County, Miss., to force the county to comply with federal law and provide the children held at the county’s juvenile detention center with access to lawyers and civil rights advocates following reports of abusive conditions at the facility.
The Forrest County Juvenile Detention Center in Mississippi was the site of numerous abuse allegations. Security camera footage from the facility showed youths being slammed into walls and beaten by staffers. When Disability Rights Mississippi (DRMS) attempted to provide the youths with services to protect them from further abuse, Forrest County officials blocked access to them. The Southern Poverty Law Center and DRMS sued the county to force it to comply with federal law and allow DRMS access to the children. After county officials settled the suit by granting access, a second lawsuit was filed challenging the inhumane conditions found at the facility in Hattiesburg. County officials agreed to improve the conditions at the facility as part of a settlement agreement for the second lawsuit.
