Immigration Crackdown - Alabama: Deli Owner Defends Documented Latinos, Receives Boycott Threats

Huffington Post: "When Alabama's sweeping new immigration law went into effect last month, Birmingham business owner Steve Dubrinsky realized he had a serious problem. Dubrinsky runs Max's Delicatessen, a classic Jewish deli.... In the kitchen he employs several Latino workers, all of whom, he says, provided the necessary documentation when he hired them, and none of whom have given him reason to believe they're in Alabama illegally.

And yet several of them have told Dubrinsky to start looking for replacements. Even though his employees say they're here legally, they've told him they either have undocumented relatives who they must leave with, or they simply no longer feel comfortable as Latinos in Alabama. ... Dubrinksy was so concerned about his burgeoning staff problem that he spoke to the Birmingham News about it last week. "They are scared and I can't blame them," he told the paper, speaking about his documented employees. "It is affecting a lot of restaurants. It's a mess."

Suddenly, Dubrinsky had much greater problems. The morning the article ran, Dubrinsky hopped in his car and turned on local talk radio, only to discover that the discussion topic was Dubrinsky himself. The host and his guests were trying to decide whether or not they should boycott the deli. ... The article had been shared on an anti-immigrant website, and Dubrinsky was soon bombarded with vitriolic hate email." read more