Appeals Court Suspends Parts of Alabama's Immigration Law

ATLANTA A federal appeals court issued a ruling Friday that temporarily blocked parts of an Alabama law requiring schools to check the immigration status of students but let stand a provision that allows police to detain immigrants that are suspected of being in the country illegally.The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the order after the Obama administration challenged the Alabama law, saying it could strain relations with Latin American countries, and advocacy groups said it had thrown the state into "chaos."Friday's opinion also blocked a part of the Alabama law that makes it a crime for immigrants to not have proper documentation.A final decision on the law won't be made for months, to allow time for more arguments.

Many Hispanics have left the state since a U.S. judge upheld much of the law in late September, fearing they could be arrested or targeted by police. Construction workers, landscapers and field hands stopped coming to work, and large numbers of Hispanic students have been absent from public schools.To cope with the labor shortage, Alabama agriculture commissioner John McMillan at one point suggested farmers should consider hiring inmates in the state's work-release program.

The Justice Department has called the Alabama law a "sweeping new state regime," and it urged the appeals court to forbid states from creating a patchwork of immigration policies. The agency said the law could strain diplomatic relations with Latin American countries, who have warned the law could impact millions of workers, tourists and students in the U.S.The law, the department said, turns illegal immigrants into a "unique class who cannot lawfully obtain housing, enforce a contract, or send their children to school without fear that enrollment will be used as a tool to seek to detain and remove them and their family members."

Immigration has become a key issue in Alabama over the past decade as the Hispanic population has grown by 145% to about 185,600 people, most of them of Mexican origin. Some counties in north Alabama have large Spanish-speaking communities and schools where most of the students are Hispanic.Alabama's law was considered by both opponents and supporters to be stricter than similar laws enacted in Arizona, Utah, Indiana and Georgia. U.S. judges in those states have blocked all or parts of those measures.Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer earlier this year asked the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve the legal fight over her state's tough immigration law.