Immigration Crackdown: Alabama Considers Revision of Immigration Law Ensnaring Mercedes Executive

Bloomberg: "On Nov. 16, a European businessman paying a visit to his company’s manufacturing plant near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was pulled over for driving a rental car without a tag. ...  Because the man couldn’t prove he had the right to be in the U.S., he was arrested and hauled off to the police station.

... The businessman turned out to be an executive with Mercedes-Benz, one of Alabama’s prized manufacturers, ... “I was really embarrassed and overwhelmed,” says state Senator Gerald Dial. “Mercedes has done more to change the image of Alabama than just about anything else. We don’t want to upset those people.”

... None of the politicians who expressed doubts about HB56 wants it repealed. All want to preserve its central provisions: penalties for hiring illegal immigrants and the mandate for police to question the legal status of traffic violators. The politicians say their aim is to calm concerns about the law without watering it down." read more