AL Lawmaker tells Republicans to “empty the clip” on illegal immigrants

A Republican Alabama State Senator, referring to illegal immigrants, recently encouraged a Cullman County Republican Party audience to “empty the clip, and do what has to be done.”

Scott Beason spoke Saturday, February 5 to a breakfast meeting of the CCRP and focused his remarks on illegal immigration.

Alabama State Senator Scott Beason, R-17th District

Beason represents Blount, Jefferson and St. Clair counties – District 17 – is not from Cullman, but was invited by the CCRP to address them. Cullman county is situated northwest of, and adjacent to Blount county.

The first term senator accused former Republicans Governor Bob Riley and Attorney General Troy King, and their administrations, of outright failure to enforce laws concerning illegal aliens, and of inadequacy and neglect to pass laws punishing others.

The primary focus of his remarks were on Alabama’s enforcement of the federal 287(g) program which the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Homeland Security found in a report entitled “The Performance of 287(g) Agreements” was “poorly managed, ineffectively organized, arbitrarily implemented from place to place; ignores or actually provides false information to the public; fails to focus on non-citizens who pose a safety threat; gives shoddy training; and lacks oversight and has not terminated those local partners who have clearly violated the terms of the agreement.”

The essence of the program is to allow local police officers to detain immigrants arrested for non-immigration offenses and transfer them to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Specifically, Section 287(g) authorizes local law enforcement personnel to apply federal immigration law under certain parameters, specifically in task force and detention settings.

Though he cited no sources, Beason claimed state authorities have deported about 60 illegal immigrants, which he said paled in comparison to other states figures.

He continued, saying that Alabama has “more 287(g) officers than any state in the nation,” and added that the law “doesn’t allow our State Troopers to go on any job site anywhere or to stop somebody anywhere and check to see if they’re legal.”

The state senator took a swipe at two Marshall county towns and their governments by saying, “If you don’t believe illegal immigration will destroy a community go and check out parts of Alabama around Arab and Albertville.”

After hearing the senator’s comment, Albertville Mayor Lindsey Lyons characterized Beason’s remark as being “a little overboard to say that this has destroyed our community.” He later added in a telephone interview that illegal immigration “has created a lot of challenges for us and we would love to see legislation that tackles the issue.”

Gary Beam, Mayor of the city of Arab contradicted Beason’s assessment saying, “We don’t have the type of industry in Arab that usually attracts a lot of illegal workers to an area. I know there is an illegal immigration problem in this country, but Arab is not an area that has been devastated by this.”

The U.S. Census Bureau reported in the 2000 census that 0.66% of Arab’s population was Hispanic or Latino, while Albertville had 16.08% Hispanic or Latino population. Marshall county’s population was 5.66% of  Hispanic or Latino.

Beason did not address the problem of business owners who hire illegal immigrants.