Immigrant rights advocates rallied in the Alabama state capital on Tuesday, speaking out against a slate of bills they feel unfairly target immigrants in the state.

Marchers circled legislative offices, walking with signs while chanting.

Speaking to a crowd in front of the Alabama State House, Andrea Hayes, a social worker with the Tuscaloosa Latino Coalition, talked about the role Alabama immigrants play in the economy.

“From the fields to construction sites, from hospitals to classrooms, we are here keeping our cities, our towns in this state moving forward,” she said.

There are about 10 bills focused on immigration that are progressing through the state legislature. Lawmakers are proposing to, among other changes:

• create a registry of employers and brokers who bring immigrant workers to the state
• criminalize traveling across state lines with undocumented immigrants
• discount students learning English as a second language in official student counts for the purpose of athletic qualifications
• give law enforcement more time and authority to check immigration status if people are arrested

This is the second rally at the state legislature that immigrant rights organizers have put together in recent weeks.

Carlos Javier Torres, of the Hispanic Immigrant Coalition of Alabama, spoke of SB-53, the bill that would criminalize crossing state lines with an undocumented person.

“Imagine this, you drive from Opelika right next to Auburn, across the river to Columbus, Georgia, just to pick up your Abuela so that she can visit with the grandkids for the weekend. On your way back from Opelika, you get pulled over, arrested and accused of smuggling an immigrant. That’s not justice.”

Luis Robledo, an organizer with the social justice group Jobs to Move America, told the crowd that the bills have an economic purpose.

“They’re here to extract the wealth of our communities by confusing us and dividing us and making it so that we are easier to exploit,” he said.