DOJ asks appeals court to block Alabama immigration law

{mosads}A federal judge has already upheld both the provisions, allowing Alabama to begin implementation of the law. Doing so makes Alabama perhaps the toughest state on immigration in the country, exceeding even controversial legislation recently passed in Arizona, Utah, Indiana and Georgia.

The administration successfully obtained a preliminary injunction against the Arizona law last year.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Friday that President Obama believes “efforts to address the issue of America’s broken immigration system through a patchwork of state laws will only create more problems than it solves.”

In the DOJ’s brief, filed in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, the government argues that “attempts to drive aliens ‘off the grid’ will only impede the removal process established by federal law.”

“Alabama is not in a position to answer to other nations for the consequences of its policy. That is the responsibility of the federal government, which speaks for all the states and must ensure that the consequences of one state’s foray in to the realm of immigration law are not visited upon the nation as a whole.”

But Alabama’s governor says he is committed to seeing the law through.

“The fact that the Department of Justice has appealed comes as no surprise,” Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley said, according to Fox News. “I remain committed to seeing that this law is fully implemented. We will continue to defend this law against any and all challenges.”