Luther Strange Sought to Weaken Alabama’s Tough Immigration Law

Back in 2011, Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL) sought to weaken what at the time was one of the country’s toughest illegal immigration laws. As attorney general of Alabama, Strange requested that key provisions of the Beason-Hammon Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act, also known as HB 56, be removed according to a December 2011 memorandum he sent to then-Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard and Senate President Pro Tempore Del Marsh. The memo, originally obtained by AL.com, showed Strange wanted to end some of the requirements in the law. Among those were a mandate that officials collect information on the immigration status of public school students, the requirement illegal immigrants carry “alien registration” cards and a provision of the law that allowed for lawsuits if the state’s residents did not believe officials were enforcing the law. Strange said at the time his reasoning for those suggestions was so that the law would be more defensible in a court of law. However, then-Rep. Micky Hammon (R), one of the bill’s sponsors, indicated those stipulations were part of how HB 56 would make it possible to achieve the goal of combatting illegal immigration. “My purpose was to make it difficult for illegal immigrants