Calling the Alabama law the “cruelest” immigration law in the country, organizations like the SPLC and ACLU, and even some media outlets, imply that Alabama has not learned anything from their past struggles during the civil rights movement. In order to shutdown debate about the rational enforcement of immigration laws, opponents purposefully mischaracterize provisions of the law, accusing state officials and a federal judge of condoning racial profiling, failing to protect civil rights and operating agendas of hate.
Cameron Smith of the Alabama Policy Institute addresses this messaging in “The Politics of the Immigration Shame Game.”