23:19 ET<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nThe US state of Alabama has passed into law one of the most stringent immigration laws in the country.<\/p>\n
The new legislation, similar to one passed last year in Arizona, requires schools to find out if students are there illegally.<\/p>\n
The law, which takes effect on 1 September, also make it a crime to give an illegal immigrant a ride in a car.<\/p>\n
Advocacy groups say they will challenge the measures, which they call racist and unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
There are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the US – and individual states have increasingly taken matters into their own hands in an attempt to tackle the problem.<\/p>\n
Fear of deportation<\/strong><\/p>\nBut none has gone so far as Alabama, says the BBC’s Jane O’Brien in Washington.<\/p>\n
As in Arizona, police will now be allowed to arrest anybody suspected of being an illegal immigrant – even if they are stopped for something else, says our correspondent.<\/p>\n
But in addition, businesses and schools will be required to check the legal status of workers and students, while landlords will be committing a crime if they knowingly rent to illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n
Republican Governor Robert Bentley, who signed the bill into law Thursday, said: “We have a real problem with illegal immigration in this country.<\/p>\n
“I campaigned for the toughest immigration laws, and I’m proud of the legislature for working tirelessly to create the strongest immigration bill in the country.”<\/p>\n
But an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union warned the move could deter some immigrant parents from sending their children to school, for fear of arrest or deportation.<\/p>\n
A district judge blocked the most controversial parts of Arizona’s law – such as wider police stop-and-search powers – amid fears of racial profiling.<\/p>\n
That case is expected to end up in the US Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
See more here:
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