German Mercedes-Benz Executive Arrested Under Alabama’s Immigration Law

[kpete]

By Amanda Peterson Beadle posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Nov 21, 2011 at 2:00 pm

Alabama’s economy is suffering because of HB 56, the state’s draconian immigration law, as workers flee out of fear. State Sen. Scott Beason (R), who sponsored the anti-immigrant bill in the Alabama legislature, once called it a “jobs bill,” but the state’s immigration law is leaving entire industries without enough workers instead.

And the extreme law, which legislators are now reconsidering, could seriously damage the state’s reputation as well after police arrested a German Mercedes-Benz executive last week under the immigration law. Mercedes opened its first American manufacturing plant in Vance, Alabama in 1993, spurring a trend of foreign car makers and suppliers opening factories in the state. They may be rethinking that decision, however, after one of their German executives was arrested for simply not having his passport with him:


Tuscaloosa Police Chief Steven Anderson told The Associated Press an officer stopped a rental vehicle for not having a tag Wednesday night and asked the driver for his license. The man only had a German identification card, so he was arrested and taken to police headquarters, Anderson said.

The 46-year-old executive was charged with violating the immigration law for not having proper identification, but he was released after an associate retrieved his passport, visa and German driver’s license from the hotel where he was staying, Anderson said.


MORE:
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/11/21/373334/german-mercedes-benz-executive-arrested-under-alabamas-immigration-law/

[DainBramaged]

1. Fucking corncobs, wouldn't surprise me MB closes the plant down

They gave these assholes an opportunity....


“It sounds like the officer followed the statute correctly.”

Assholes. They hate anyone don't speka the english proper....

[Hepburn]

2. Oh, well...

...gotta keep them fur-nors out!

What idiots!

[qb]

3. I at least give kudos to the police officer for enforcing the law even though the guy was

(I presume) white and wealthy.

[reggie the dog]

10. +1

[HereSince1628]

4. The Alabama law stinks, but the exec is a 1%er

who acted pretty stupidly considering the high profile of the law. No passport, no visa, in today's Alabama?

What'd he think? This was only a law meant to exclude Mexicans?????

[Speck Tater]

6. Not if he's a mid-level exec. Then he's a 99%er. nt

[HereSince1628]

7. Boyars, kulaks...a distinction without difference to me.

What are the odds that he figured he's white and drives a nice car, SO he would pass?

Arian capitalist pigs! Hhhmmmppppfffff!

:sarcasm:

[MedicalAdmin]

9. He isn't at headquarters so he is mid management.

Most likely. It's still a stupid law.

The reason they are worried and considering changing it is because they caught a rich white man and not a poor brown one.

[HereSince1628]

12. Nits grow into lice...

Sorry, as irrational as it may seem, I am not going to make a distinction between the kulaks who serve the boyare's every whim so as to become boyare themselves and the evil boyare themselves.

[MedicalAdmin]

13. Great response.

Yes, complicity with evil is still evil.

[Speck Tater]

14. You're right. OK. Everybody on DU who has a job, QUIT NOW!!! nt

[HereSince1628]

15. If the shoe fits...

They are your toes.

Although you can place them where you choose, it doesn't mean they aren't seen as a threat to the necks of others.

[Speck Tater]

18. You're the one who declared employees of corporations to be the enemy, not me.

The guy who got arrested might be a 1%er or he might be a guy forced to travel when he'd rather be at home with his family, but he has no choice because his bosses make him do the work of 4 since they laid off half of the people in his department. But what can he do? His wife is expecting and he has no medical insurance, and he's one paycheck away from foreclosure, so he travels, like it or not.

The point is, you declare some poor anonymous person to be the enemy, thus reinforcing the "us-vs-them" mentality, when you have no evidence that he's one of the exploiters. I understand your anger, but let's not direct it indiscriminately at people who may, in fact, be in the same boat as we all are.

[reggie the dog]

11. when did the law come into effect?

i had my french daughter in alabama last summer and her passport stayed in the family safe in chicago.

she is 3 and although she is my daughter i never asked for nationality for her (she is born in france)

i had no idea she could have gone to jail

[Posteritatis]

17. Unintended effects aside, it pretty much *is* a law meant to exclude Mexicans. (nt)

[Speck Tater]

5. More scenes from "A Trip Through Republican Paradise". Really makes you want to vote Republican.

NOT!

[Old and In the Way]

8. Ahhh, unintended consequences.

This is what happens when you legislate your ideological bigotry and prejudices. Gee, they only meant these laws for poor brown people.

[pampango]

16. German perspective: Mercedes exec arrested under Alabama immigration law

According to the Associated Press, the unnamed 46-year-old manager was only able to present a German identity card when pulled over by Tuscaloosa police last Wednesday. He was subsequently arrested and charged with not having proper identification as required by Alabama’s new immigration law, which has been criticised as being excessively draconian.

The incident even apparently drew in Alabama’s governor, who called the authorities to determine what had happened, although his office denied he had exerted any pressure on police.

The executive was caught up in the controversy surrounding an Alabama law passed in June, which is widely considered to be the strictest in America. Most of the law, which requires police to verify someone’s immigration status if officers have a “reasonable suspicion” he or she could be in the United States illegally, has been upheld by courts so far, despite challenges by civil liberties advocates.

Mercedes-Benz has built cars at a plant near Tuscaloosa since 1993 and in 2000 invested $600 million (€445 million) in an expansion of the facility. According to the company, the plant provides more than 22,000 jobs and is Alabama’s largest exporter, sending $1 billion (€743 million) in exports throughout the world.

http://www.thelocal.de/national/20111121-38997.html

[SomethingFishy]

19. While I am not a big fan of "papers please" anyone who has

spent anytime out of the country knows you go NOWHERE without your passport. You just never know. I keep my passport on me and 2 paper copies just in case.

[whistler162]

20. He likely would have been detained even with out the new law

since according to the story all he had was his German ID and no International Drivers License.

[tblue37]

21. Papers, please! nt