Etowah County makes first charge in state for immigration law violation

The first arrest for a violation of Alabama’s new immigration law has been made in Etowah County. The man is from Yemen and was arrested during a drug raid early Friday at a house on Madison Avenue, Sheriff Todd Entrekin said.

Mohamed Ali Muflahi

 

Mohamed Ali Muflahi, 24, was taken into custody for obstructing a government operation during the raid, Entrekin said.Two other men also were arrested during the raid. One man said he was born in Yemen, but he has been granted U.S. citizenship and he had documentation. The other man also is from Yemen and had proper documentation to be in the U.S. on a work visa.Their immigration status was checked once the men were taken to the Etowah County jail. Muflahi did not have documentation and also is charged with violation of the immigration law, a misdemeanor, Entrekin said. “To my knowledge, this is the first immigration violation arrest that has been made in Etowah County,” Entrekin said. Entrekin said the immigration law does not allow officers to check someone’s status unless he or she first is arrested on some other charge. He said anyone who does not have documentation, such as a driver’s license, to verify citizenship status can be arrested, regardless of how he or she looks or talks. “The focus of this law has been just on Hispanics,” Entrekin said, “but this arrest just shows there are a lot of nationalities within our communities that could be here illegally, not just Hispanics.”