Juan Crow in Alabama

The Southern Poverty Law Center recently reported that five people called the group’s hotline to report they had been denied food stamps. There have been reports that Decatur Utilities and Huntsville Utilities in Alabama have been prohibiting people from obtaining electric, gas, water and sewer services to homes.  

I was disturbed when I read these reports.  How could this be happening in the United States? To deny anyone food or basic utilities to survive seems like a foreign concept – not something that would ever happen in this country.

What was your first reaction? Were you also shocked? Would your opinion change if I told you that these cases involved people living here illegally?

The Alabama state legislature passed a controversial new immigration bill that requires public schools to check students’ immigration status, criminalizes giving an undocumented immigrant a ride, keeps businesses from entering into a transaction with anyone perceived to be here illegally, requires employers to use E-Verify to check potential employees’ status, and instructs police to check the immigration status of anyone they stop if they suspect the person of being an undocumented immigrant. 

Because a portion of Alabama’s immigration law makes it a felony for undocumented immigrants to enter into a “business transaction” with the state, some utility companies are interpreting this as having authority to deny people services to undocumented immigrants. The New York Times recently noted, "Fear is causing an exodus as Latinos abandon homes and jobs and crops in the fields. Utilities are preparing to shut off water, power and heat to customers who cannot show the right papers." In a legal brief, Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange claimed the fear of utility companies denying service to undocumented immigrants “has little basis.” Are these American ideals? Allow families to go without heat and running water?

The problem with laws such as Alabama’s HB56 is that it unofficially gives license for people to act on their bigotry and interpret the law the way they see fit – to ostracize and subjugate an undesirable population—just as segregationist policies did 50 years ago. 

We can’t allow fear and hatred to dictate our course of action. And we shouldn’t deny people the basic necessities to live because they didn’t arrive here through the correct channels – it is immoral and inhumane.  Respect and dignity should not be dictated by arbitrary borders and status.