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Monday, July 11th, 2011

Where’s Chairman Armistead?

After three days with no response from ALGOP Chairman Bill Armistead, Chairman of the Alabama Democrats Judge Mark Kennedy again repeated his request for a debate on the lawsuit filed against Scott Beason’s immigration bill.

“Last Friday Chairman Armistead made some absolutely outlandish claims about what he thinks this bill is going to do for our state,” said Kennedy. “I want to again extend an invitation to Armistead to join me for a debate so he can share his facts on the terrorist rings he alleges are picking our peaches.”

In a release last Friday, Armistead complained that a lawsuit filed by the the ACLU of Alabama, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the National Immigration Law Center, the Asian Law Caucus, and several other organizations and individual plaintiffs would put the state at risk, claiming, “These groups do not care one whit if our country is overrun by drug cartel thugs or other criminal elements that could include members of terrorist organizations. … They say it is a constitutional issue. I say it is, and has always been, a state and national security issue.”

“These organizations are well within their rights to challenge this irresponsible legislation,” Kennedy added. “I don’t know what civics class taught Chairman Arimstead that a state overstepping federal laws isn’t a Constitutional issue, but hopefully he’ll fill me in when we meet for our debate.”