U.S. court blocks part of nation's "toughest" immigration law

A U.S. federal court on Friday blocked part of Alabama State's immigration law, believed to be the toughest in the country known as a "melting pot". The appeals court blocked a provision in the law that requires public schools to determine the legal residency of children upon enrollment. The law requires public elementary and secondary schools to determine whether students are illegal immigrants. While it will not bar them from schools, it requires every school district to submit an annual report on the number of presumed illegal immigrants to the state education board. Civil rights groups argue that the requirement has forced illegal immigrants' children to stop going to public schools for fear of deportation. The court, however, left intact other parts of the law, including provisions that allow police to detain people suspected of being in the country illegally if they cannot produce proper documentation. The law was signed by Alabama Governor Robert Bentley in June, and has since been targeted by the Justice Department and civil rights groups. The White House has argued that the country cannot solve its illegal immigration problem with a "patchwork" of state laws. The Alabama law also bans illegal immigrants from receiving any state or local public benefits; bars them from enrolling in or attending college; and prohibits them from applying for or soliciting work. It outlaws harboring and transporting illegal immigrants, renting them property, and "knowingly" employing them for any work within the state. It also makes it a "discriminatory practice" to fire or fail to hire a legal resident when an illegal one is on the payroll.