HB 56 Protestors Take a Stand Outside Sen. Beason's Church

Yesterday, a group of more than 100 people gathered in Gardendale, Alabama to protest the enactment of HB 56, Alabama’s strict new anti-immigrant law.  They mobilized outside a church where HB 56 backer Senator Scott Beason is a regular attendee, though the protesters were not able to meet or speak with Senator Beason.  The gathering brought together community faith leaders and their congregations to protest HB 56’s harmful effects on Alabama’s families

CBS 42 News aired this clip of the protest, which includes interviews with young students from mixed-status families.  Some of these youth are U.S.-born citizens, while others are DREAM Act-eligible students who were brought to the country when they were very young.

Victor, one of the youth interviewed, came to the U.S. from Mexico when he was six.  As he says in the video:

You see people from all different part of the state, from all different ethnicities [here at these protests].  We’re from all different ethnicities and languages.  We’re all here in Eugene in solidarity for the families of Alabama.

HB 56 threatens to split apart many of these mixed-status families, as their undocumented members are forced to leave the state while their documented or U.S.-citizen relatives decide whether or not to stay.  Since Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn allowed the law to go into implementation last week, many families have already left the state.  Some have remained, though they remain afraid to send their children to school, or even leave the house for groceries.

You can watch the CBS 42 News video below: