A man from Yemen was the first person arrested for being an undocumented immigrant in Alabama. The police raided a house and encountered the man, Mohamed Ali Muflahi, According to the police, he identified himself as being in the country illegally.
Immediately, the authors of Alabama’s anti-immigrant law issued a press statement hailing the arrest and implying that Muflahi was an illegal alien somehow connected with terrorism. Except that it turns out he was not in the country illegally.
Muflahi’s lawyer produced documents showing he was here legally. Charges were dropped and he was released from jail. The politicians who hoped to capitalize on this capture of Alabama’s own terrorist mastermind quickly cancelled the press conference they had planned.
An interview about the arrest by a local reporter with Sheriff Entrekin of Etowah, Alabama is sort of scary: Entrekin said a few others have been booked in and suspected of being in the country illegally.
Meanwhile, officers in Etowah County on Tuesday took part in training provided by the Alabama Department of Homeland Security, Entrekin said. “Right now, there is still a learning curve for all of us,” he said.
Entrekin said anyone who does not provide documentation about his or her legal status will continue to be arrested and charged… He said anyone who does not have documentation, such as a driver’s license, to verify citizenship status can be arrested.
