U.S. files suit against Alabama immigration law

Atlanta - The Justice Department filed a writ in the 11th Circuit Court of appeals today to halt a new Alabama immigration law considered by many the toughest in the U.S.

The motion claims Alabama's new law is "highly likely to expose persons lawfully in the United States, including school children, to new difficulties in routine dealings."

A federal judge earlier upheld two key provisions in the law that allow authorities to question people suspected of being in the country illegally and hold them without bond, and let officials check the immigration status of students in public schools.

Farmers desperate for harvest help are begging corrections officials to allow them to use inmates as laborers. Most Mexican laborers, both those in the country legally and illegally, have fled the state for more receptive territory.