Immigrants fearing deportation make plans for kids
In this Oct. 6, 2011 photo taken from video, Jazmin Rivera, right, a case manager with the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama, works with an unidentified immigrant in her office in Birmingham, Ala. Parents living in the country illegally are scared of deportation under Alabama's new immigration law, and Rivera has helped many with paperwork to provide care for their children in case the parents are arrested. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Terrified by Alabama's strict new immigration crackdown, parents living in the state illegally say they are doing something that was unthinkable just days ago -- asking friends, relatives, co-workers and acquaintances to take their children if they're arrested or deported.
Many illegal immigrants signed documents in the past week allowing others to care for their children if needed, assistance groups say, and a couple living illegally in nearby Shelby County extracted a promise from the man's boss to send their three young children -- all U.S. citizens -- to Mexico should they be jailed under the law.
A key sponsor of the measure, state Sen. Scott Beason, said such concerns weren't raised when legislators were considering the bill, and he wonders if the