老澳门开奖结果

For 12 years, James Pilgrim has managed a mobile home park in the Birmingham, Ala. area, getting to know families who have lived there for years. Most of them are from Mexico, so he has taken part in a lot of their traditions.

鈥淲hen I have a birthday party generally they鈥檒l provide a cake and the custom of the Hispanic people is to let you blow the candles out and when you do, they push your head into the cake,鈥� he said, laughing. 鈥淪o I鈥檝e had cake all over my face. . . We鈥檝e just been close. We go places together, we do things together.鈥�

But since parts of Alabama鈥檚 anti-immigrant law, H.B. 56, took effect, Pilgrim said about 10 families have fled. The fear of racial profiling and other harmful aspects of the law forced them to leave for other states or Mexico, he said.

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鈥淵ou just want to stand there and cry,鈥� he said, 鈥渨atching people treated like this, where they had to run for their lives.鈥�

Most of the families have lived in the community for years, hold steady jobs and contribute to Alabama鈥檚 economy, Pilgrim said. He is concerned more families may leave soon because registrations for mobile homes must be renewed by Nov. 30, and many residents may not have the documents needed to register under the new law.

As a small business owner, Pilgrim said he is very concerned about the law鈥檚 negative financial impact. Jefferson County, which is Alabama鈥檚 most populous county, this month , the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. And Alabama has the 10th highest poverty rate in the nation, with of the state鈥檚 residents living in poverty.

A native of Georgia who has lived in Alabama since 1971, Pilgrim says he is strongly opposed to H.B. 56 and the chaos it has caused in his state.

鈥淚t affects me in that some of them are just like my own family,鈥� he said of the impacted families, 鈥渁nd my heart is broken to think that I might never see these people again.鈥�

Pilgrim is not alone. Bill Bounds, who manages a mobile home park in the Birmingham area, said a handful of Hispanic families fled the park since the law took effect.

鈥淥ne of them threw me their keys and said, 鈥溾�橦ere, sell my home,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥�(The law) has uprooted a lot of people and so many children. They left furniture and stuff they worked hard for.鈥�

Because the law allows police to check people鈥檚 immigration status based on 鈥渞easonable suspicion,鈥� many families have been scared of getting pulled over because of the color of their skin.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e scared to drive, scared to go to the store,鈥� Bounds said. 鈥淚 had a lady ask me to go to the post office, a family I went to the grocery store for. And there are people who are afraid to go to the hospital. A lot of them are scared to death. I even had one family come to me and ask me if I鈥檇 adopt their daughter. They鈥檙e afraid if they get caught, she鈥檇 end up having to go to Mexico.鈥�

Bounds has lived in Alabama for about 40 years, and sees this law as a step backward into the state鈥檚 troubled past.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 going back to George Wallace days,鈥� he said. 鈥淎labama just shifted back 100 years since this law took effect.鈥�

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