The Alabama chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-AL), a chapter of the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on federal courts in Alabama to stop using a law that was applied during the U.S. internment of Japanese Americans during World War II to criminally charge undocumented immigrants.
SEE: Alabama uses Japanese American Internment era law to charge immigrants who don’t self-register
In a statement, CAIR-AL Staff Attorney A. Britton O’Shields said:
“Immigrants make Alabama great. From university professors to engineers, doctors, farmers, retailers, restaurateurs, and the immigrant families that attend our schools, play on our sports teams, and pray with us in our houses of worship, all our lives are made better because we know immigrants.
“As the current administration resurrects the tactics from one of the darkest periods of our nation’s history to brutalize us and make us fearful, it is crucially important that people of conscience continue to, as George Lakey said, ‘expand our social circles, broaden our acquaintance, and engage in dialogue with those our fear might otherwise lead us to dismiss.’ When we come together, we win.
“Federal courts should stop misusing this law to again target minority communities.”
END
CONTACT: A. Britton O’Shields, Staff Attorney – Alabama Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Alabama), aoshields@cair.com, 205-206-6399, 205-616-0733; CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com