The January 27 episode of This American Life[1] reported on the consequences of Alabama's new immigration law on undocumented immigrants. The episode has gained a lot of attention because it revealed that citizens of Alabama are responding to the new law by taking matters into their own hands and discriminating against people who look Hispanic in ways far beyond what the Alabama law requires or authorizes. For example, some grocery stores are requiring people who look Hispanic to prove their citizenship before the store will sell them groceries. At a recent high school pep rally, the students started a cheer for the Hispanic students to move to the back of the auditorium before the rally could continue. Some Walmart stores refuse to give electronically wired money to Hispanic recipients unless the recipient can first produce proof of citizenship. Even some churches are discriminating against their members of Hispanic origin. That part of the program starts around 12:15 on the downloaded MP3 version.

But what caught my attention was the interview of an Alabama state legislator who supported the law. The legislator brought up the issue of his religion (it's an automatic instinctive response to every question for politicians in the south). When asked if Jesus would have voted for the law, the legislator seemed stunned. After some time, the legislator said he thought Jesus would have voted against the law. That part starts around 34:00.

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[1] http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/456/reap-what-you-sow