immigration is not one of them: op

Let's get this straight. Albertville, Alabama does not need to become another Springfield, Ohio.

As in Ohio, over the last month social media has fed rumors about Haitian immigration to the state, leading to town meetings in Marshall County and, just last week, Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville writing to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security calling for an end to the program providing refuge to our island neighbors fleeing unspeakable violence and political unrest.

But Albertville's local leaders have been clear. Haitian immigrants are working difficult and important jobs in Alabama's food processing plants. They are not over-taxing local social services or schools. There has been no increase in crime.

City leaders have also spoken out directly against the racism underlying the anti-immigrant mobilization, noting in a press release that "we will not support or condone any narrative or discourse that seeks to marginalize individuals in our community based on their race or ethnicity."

Enough is enough. Let's end this charade before people are hurt, and our communities are further divided.

Rather than manufacturing a crisis, Alabama's leading lawmakers should focus on the real struggles families and communities are facing in this great state.

Those struggles were made crystal clear by Census bureau data released last week.

According to data from the American Community Survey, 15.6 percent of Alabamians are living in poverty , well above the national average of 12.5 percent. Even more troubling, more than 1 in 5 children (21.1 percent) are living in poverty. This means that their families' incomes are so low, they are not able to cover the cost of basic necessities, like rent, utilities, car repairs, and food.

One reason that Alabamians are more likely to experience economic hardship and insecurity than their fellow Americans, is that they are to have access to the basic supports everyone needs to lead healthy and productive lives.

Take health insurance. While there have been important gains in health coverage in the state over the last decade, according to census data released last week 8.5 percent of Alabamians remain uninsured , and Alabama was one of only six states that saw the uninsured rate for children increase in 2023.

One important reason so many people cannot afford the health care they need is that Alabama has not yet expanded Medicaid to cover more families with low and moderate incomes, as 45 other states have done since the passage of the Affodable Care Act.

Without health insurance, people are less likely to go to the doctor when they start feeling sick, and small health problems can spiral, leading to worse health outcomes and crushing medical debt .

Meanwhile, families who are struggling to make ends meet in Alabama are also less likely to be able to fall back on cash assistance or other family supports when times get tough.

While on average states spend about a quarter of their Temporary Assistance for Needy Family (TANF) block grant on cash assistance for families, Alabama only spends 9 percent. This helps explain why only 7 out of every 100 people living in poverty in Alabama receive TANF cash assistance, and even with a recent increase , benefit levels remain low at $344 a month for a family of three.

Please tell us, how can a parent with two children get by on $344 in Alabama?

Alabama does relatively better at ensuring families can access the child care subsidies for which they are eligible. This is critical, because in Alabama, as in many other states, child care costs more than most people's mortgages. Nevertheless, in 2020, only 27 percent of potentially eligible children in Alabama received a child care subsidy, and policymakers and business leaders cite lack of access to child care as one reason driving the state's relatively low labor force participation rate.

The real challenges families in Alabama face—affording child care, paying the bills, and getting the health care they need—have clear solutions. Lawmakers can expand Medicaid; commit TANF funding to cash assistance and pass a state Child Tax Credit to help families cover the cost of raising children , as 14 other states have done since the incredibly successful temporary expansion of the federal Child Tax Credit in 2021; invest state funding in child care to bring it within reach of more families.

While they are at it, state lawmakers can follow the example of Alabama's courageous local leaders and speak out in support of all Alabamians, and the right of our newest neighbors to live un-harassed in their communities, so they can go to work and raise their own families in the dignity and peace we all deserve.