Did You Know...

Just came down: A mixed ruling from a federal judge in Alabama over the state’s tough immigration enforcement law.

You can read the full decision and analysis here.

The parts of the law she upheld can be read here.

A federal judge has ruled on Alabama’s controversial immigration law. Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn has struck down some parts of the law, but allowed other key parts to stand.

She has refused to block the law’s requirement to check the immigration status of students. Judge Blackburn said in her ruling issued Wednesday that federal law doesn’t prohibit the state from requiring schools to check the immigration status of students or from requiring police to determine the status of suspected illegal immigrants.

The judge upheld the U.S. Department of Justice’s objections to other sections of the law, including making it a crime for an illegal immigrant to solicit work or for anyone to transport or harbor an illegal immigrant.

Also upheld: The provisions authorizing local police to inquire about detainees’ immigration status.

Alabama didn’t wait for the feds to do the job they should be doing. Before the ruling, they implemented “AL-Verify:”

Monday Governor Robert Bentley unveiled a new development in the illegal immigration debate. It’s a state-developed computer system that can verify citizenship as quickly as you can show your driver’s license.

It’s called AL-Verify. Some say this isn’t needed until a judge rules on Alabama’s new immigration law.

John McMillan, with the Alabama Commission of Agriculture and Industries says he will definitely be watching.

“Some of our farmers have been in talks with legislators. I have been involved in some of those meetings, and my role is going to be keeping legislators informed of what I see out there on the ground,” said McMillan.

McMillan, and many others are waiting to see what an up or down vote for Alabama’s immigration law means, or if there will be any provisions.

While many people wait, the governor and his cabinet members are moving forward, and they’re doing it through the AL-Verify program.

“We provided an automated way to be compliant so the process for getting a title or a tag hasn’t really changed but because of the immigration bill we had a compliance issue. Now with this technology we’ve solved the compliance issue,” said Julie Magee, the Commissioner for the Department of Revenue.

Magee said she didn’t know how much the technology cost, but the program is live, and here’s the way it works: You put your driver’s license info in and AL-Verify tells you whether it’s valid.

Cries of “heartless!” in 3, 2, 1…

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Speaking of heartlessness, Rick Perry kinda sorta walks back his smear of immigration enforcement activists:

“I was probably a bit over-passionate by using that word and it was inappropriate,” Perry admitted. “In Texas in 2001 we had 181 members of the legislature – only four voted against this piece of legislation – because it wasn’t about immigration it was about education.”

His comments are being construed as an “apology.”

Only in politics can you apologize without really being *sorry* — or actually saying the word.

Meantime, Mr. Irascible — our thin-skinned commander-in-chief — gets peeved over an illegal alien student’s carping about lack of DREAM Act passage…and then doubles down by telling Latino leaders to quit complaining.

Heal thyself, whiner.