Bill sponsor Scott Beason defends new rules

Published 3:23 pm Monday, October 31, 2011

State Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, has never been a fan of the Obama Administration, to put it mildly.

But when U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano testified to a Congressional committee on Wednesday that her department wouldn’t help Alabama enforce its new law on illegal immigration — a law which Beason helped push — he was fit to be tied.

“Yeah, I was a little upset, but I’ve calmed down now,” Beason said Thursday. “But it’s not surprising coming from this administration, or from the federal government in general. They haven’t done anything to enforce their own law.”

According to The Politico, a Capitol Hill-based newspaper and website, Napolitano testified  before the House Judiciary Committee; she replied to a question by Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Virginia, about if and how her department was helping the state enforce the law.

Napolitano said it isn’t, and that the Department of Homeland Security is instead “working with the Department of Justice on its challenge to that law.”

That admission came as no surprise to Beason.

“I’ve not heard from our attorney general or the state’s Department of Homeland Security that they have taken any action against our ability to enforce the law,” Beason said. “My guess is that they might run some sort of sting operation if we try to apprehend someone. Or they may do something worse, like pick someone up and them let them go.”

Besides the Obama Administration, the new law has faced vocal opposition from other groups in the state, such as those representing Hispanic interests and also farmers, who claim they can’t find enough workers to harvest their crops.

“I think there’s a lot of spin going on from various groups,” Beason said. “Some who have hired illegals for years are trying to make hay any way they can. People who don’t like the law, whether because of politics or for their own [financial] gain, are trying to stop it however they can. I think eventually the market will decide, and it will all settle out.”