The Justice Department is appealing a federal judge’s ruling that upheld most of Alabama’s controversial immigration law.
In filing its appeal Friday, the DOJ also requested an injunction that would keep Alabama from enforcing the law.
DOJ attorneys said the government already has “a comprehensive statutory scheme regarding aliens unlawfully in the United States.”
They also said that immigration “cannot be subject to a patchwork of state measures” and that “Alabama thus has no authority to regulate in the area of immigration.”
Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Sharon Blackburn upheld the section of the law allowing state law enforcement officials to stop and detain people suspected of having entered the country without proper documentation, and the section requiring schools to verify the immigration status of its students. She said the same about the section of the law that nullifies contracts knowingly entered into with undocumented immigrants and the section that makes it a felony offense for an undocumented immigrant to apply for official state documentation – such as driver’s licenses, business licenses or license plates.
