Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer Visits Alabama, Praises Immigration Law HB 56

The politician who brought us Arizona's SB 1070 says she's encouraged by Alabama's tough approach.

By Jorge Rivas Oct 31, 2011

Alabama’s draconian immigration enforcement law H.B. 56 has had a tough time in the courts. But there is one person lobbying and making her support for the law very public: Jan Brewer, the Arizona governor who’s S.B.1070 law was the harshest anti-immigrant legislation in the country before Alabama took its place.

Brewer held a press conference in Huntsville, Alabama on Friday to promote her new book (that has a forward written, unsurprisingly by Sarah Palin) and offered her support for the H.B. 56.

Brewer said she was encouraged by Alabama’s lawmakers for passing the law and Gov. Robert Bentley signing it, the Huntsville Times reports. She said those steps "took courage." Brewer also said she was encouraged by the federal court decisions leaving parts of Alabama’s law in place.

Brewer said the "liberal media" has helped encourage the characterization of the Arizona law as being wrong, racist and bigoted.

"That’s totally untrue," Brewer countered. "The bottom line is we have to explain to people we are a nation of laws."

Alabama’s H.B. 56 went a lot further than Arizona’s H.B. 1070 law. Many of the provisions that were blocked in the Arizona law were allowed to go through in Alabama. For a more thorough explanation of the most recent rulings, read Julianne Hing’s take in "Profiling’s Legal! Court Upholds Alabama’s Immigration Law."