Yesterday, the US Department of Justice file suit against the state of Alabama charging that HB 56, anti-immigrant legislation signed into law in June and slated to take effect on September 1, conflicts with federal law and undermines federal immigration priorities. The lawsuit also argues that the state law expands opportunities for police to push immigrants toward jail for various new immigration crimes.

HB 56 includes provisions that require local school districts to check and report on the immigration status of all children enrolling in public schools. It also transforms local police into federal immigration officers, and creates criminal consequences for anyone who provides housing, transportation, or employment to undocumented immigrants. HB 56 is considered one of the many Arizona SB1070 copycat laws that have been multiplying across the country, each meeting legal and community action in response.

Parts of SB1070 were effectively blocked, at least temporarily, by legal action, but it is interesting, at the very least, to try and reconcile the Obama administration’s lawsuits against anti-immigrant laws in Alabama and Georgia with it’s own policies. Federal deportation programs like Secure Communities and 287g deputize local law enforcement as ICE agents. So while these lawsuits are important and hopefully their success means more equitable living conditions and quality of life for immigrant communities. What these lawsuits do not do, is change the way the federal government has essentially abandoned all efforts of immigration reform and focuses on detentions and deportations.