Section 12. (a) Upon any lawful stop, detention, or arrest made by a state, county, or municipal law enforcement officer of this state in the enforcement of any state law or ordinance of any political subdivision thereof, where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States, a reasonable attempt shall be made, when practicable, to determine the citizenship and immigration status of the person, except if the determination may hinder or obstruct an investigation. Such determination shall be made by contacting the federal government pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1373(c) and relying upon any verification provided by the federal government.
(b) Any alien who is arrested and booked into custody shall have his or her immigration status determined pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1373(c). The alien's immigration status shall be verified by contacting the federal government pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1373(c) within 24 hours of the time of the alien's arrest. If for any reason federal verification pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1373(c) is delayed beyond the time that the alien would otherwise be released from custody, the alien shall be released from custody.
(c) A law enforcement officer shall not attempt to independently make a final determination of whether an alien is lawfully present in the United States. A law enforcement officer may not consider race, color, or national origin in implementing the requirements of this section except to the extent permitted by the United States Constitution or the Constitution of Alabama of 1901.
(d) A person is presumed to not be an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States if the person provides to the law enforcement officer any of the following:
(1) A valid, unexpired Alabama driver's license.
(2) A valid, unexpired Alabama nondriver identification card.
(3) A valid tribal enrollment card or other form of tribal identification bearing a photograph or other biometric identifier.
(4) Any valid United States federal or state government issued identification document bearing a photograph or other biometric identifier, if issued by an entity that requires proof of lawful presence in the United States before issuance.
(5) A foreign passport with an unexpired United States Visa and a corresponding stamp or notation by the United States Department of Homeland Security indicating the bearer’s admission to the United States.
(6) A foreign passport issued by a visa waiver country with the corresponding entry stamp and unexpired duration of stay annotation or an I-94W form by the United States Department of Homeland Security indicating the bearer's admission to the United States.
When a group is arrested, and some are determined to be aliens (illegal or otherwise), I can understand checking everyone's immigration status. All this guy had to do was show a driver's license and he would have been in the clear. It's not like he had to carry his birth certificate or naturalization file with him everywhere - nearly everyone has a government-issued photo ID in their wallet.
It sounds like someone jumped the gun (the media? no... not possible) on claiming he was an illegal - the local LE is supposed to wait for the Feds to confirm immigration status.
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