Judge Blocks Ala. Law On Illegal Immigrants 

A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction that blocks enforcement of parts of an Alabama immigration law (Ala. Laws Act 2011-535) already on hold, including the law’s provisions that punish rental property owners for “harboring” illegal immigrants.

On Sept. 28, U.S. District Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn ruled that neither Congress nor the U.S. Supreme Court has defined “harboring,” but federal law nonetheless preempts Section 13 of Alabama’s statute, making it unenforceable (U.S. v. Bentley, 5:11-cv-2746, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Alabama (Birmingham)).

Importantly, the judge noted that federal law explicitly and implicitly permits apartment owners to provide rental housing to individuals without legal documentation, rejecting Alabama’s argument that merely providing rental housing to someone known or reasonably believed to be an illegal alien—without more—constitutes “harboring.”

The U.S. Department of Justice and a coalition of civil rights groups opposed to the Alabama law have already filed motions to stay the judge’s ruling that allows some provisions of the law to go forward pending consideration of the statute by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Blackburn’s decision could spur further legal review of other recently enacted state and local immigration laws across the United States.

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