In a follow-up to a story from Nov. 25, 2011, TheWetumpkaHerald in Elnore, Alabama, reports a federal lawsuit challenging Alabama’s illegal immigration enforcement act has been filed, naming Elnore County’s Probate Judge Jimmy Stubbs and Revenue Commissioner Julie Magee as defendants. Two illegal immigrants, named John Doe 1 and John Doe 2, allege they were forced to break state law requiring them to register their manufactured home when their application was denied because they could not provide proof of citizenship. The revenue commission handles the registration and taxes on manufactured housing, but the probate court issues the decals that are attached to the homes. Appearing at an evidentiary hearing in the U.S. District Court of Judge Myron Thompson, Stubbs said, “All we’ve tried to do is comply with the law, and I think we have complied with it.” Represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Southern Poverty Law Center, and other rights and housing groups, the civil suit alleges the defendants violated the Fair Housing Act, the Supremacy Clause, which gives the U.S. Government sole jurisdiction over immigration matters, and due process guaranteed by the constitution. Since it was brought as a class action suit, other plaintiffs could be added to the complaint.The part (of the law) that we have to comply with is still in place,” Stubbs said, “and we’re going to comply with it until the court says otherwise.”
