North Jefferson law enforcement officers are trying to figure out how the state’s new immigration law will affect the way they will do business.

HB 56, parts of which went into effect on Sept. 1, is being called the toughest immigration law in the United States.

However, officers’ hands are still tied until the courts decide which parts of the law will stick and which parts will be trimmed.

“The law is still a moving target,” said Leslie Klasing, an attorney with Waldrep, Stewart and Kendrick. Klasing represents the city of Fultondale and has been working with the Fultondale Police Department and with city officials to try to interpret the law.

Fultondale Mayor Jim Lowery said city attorneys are helping write a law enforcement policy for the city regarding the immigration law, but Klasing said it’s not that easy.

“Very quickly we are getting new and differing opinions from various courts on which provisions of the law will be enforced and which should be enjoined [prohibited] from being enforced,” Klasing said. “We are enforcing it to the best of our ability as to what has not been enjoined at this time.”

In Gardendale, Police Chief Mike Walker said his department is also waiting to see which parts of the law the courts will enforce.

“We’re really confused,” he said, adding there is concern the officers might be enforcing a law today that won’t be the law tomorrow.

So far, his officers have not changed the way they operate while on patrol.

“We have not gotten into any type of training,” Walker said. “We are still waiting for the attorney general’s office to give us some guidance on it. … I can’t really speak for my officers on the street, but if I was in a patrol car I would be very reluctant to do anything we didn’t do before the ruling.”

For two more months, Walker is president of the Jefferson County Police Chief’s Association.

“This is a major issue for us,” he said. “The Jefferson County Police Chief’s Association did not believe this (law) would be a good idea. … Of course, we are servants of the people. We are prepared to enforce the law whatever the law is. We’re just not certain what’s going to be left of the law after all the challenges are over.”

The police chiefs in Warrior and Morris both said the law won’t affect their departments to a large degree.

“If we run across anyone illegal, we just call immigration and have them deal with it, just like we’ve always done,” said Warrior Police Chief Ray Horn. “But it’s not much of an issue here.”

Morris Police Chief Brian Cochran also said illegal immigrants are not a big issue in his town. He said the main changes his department have made are to bring suspected illegal residents to the magistrate for a bond hearing, to make sure business licenses are held by legal citizens, and to make sure residents have a valid Alabama identification card.

“As for the law itself, I have a lot of reservations about it,” Cochran said. “The state is forcing us to do something that the feds should be doing. … I agree with the spirit of the law, but not some of the mechanisms the state has put into the law.”

Until the law becomes more concrete, law officers are in a holding pattern.

“We’re not going to be going out specifically targeting someone who would be here illegally. Clearly that would be a violation of the law itself,” said Walker. “We can’t go out profiling people. We wouldn’t do that anyway.”

According to Klasing, a provision of the law that is still in effect prohibits law enforcement officers from making decisions based on race or national origin.

She said one factor that could be an indicator of illegal residence is lack of a valid form of ID. Six forms of ID are approved that show a person is in the country legally.

“The absence of one of those could give reasonable suspicion, but that’s not the end of the story,” Klasing said. She said officers can not arrest an individual for being in the country illegally for simply not having a valid form of ID with them.

“It’s going to be interesting,” said Walker. “We’re waiting to get guidance on what we should be doing. We’re not going to be running full bore to do this until we hear something.”

Robert Carter contributed to this report.