That deep south state was one of the places with a Legislature that persisted in not only following the lead of Arizona in pushing for laws meant to make Latinos feel unwelcome, some say its version went further.

THAT LED TO the reports last year of sudden declines in the number of people with Latin American ethnic origins in their family trees choosing to live in the Yellowhammer state.

Crops that would have been picked by migrant workers were rotting. There were suddenly stories of schoolchildren who just up and disappeared overnight. There are several bits of anecdotal evidence indicating many Latinos just chose to leave the state, rather than deal with harassment.

But now, it seems that we’re returning to Alabama (even though personally, I don’t get the attraction that some of my ethnic brethren have for the place).

The Associated Press found Latino immigrants in-and-around Birmingham who say they have friends or relatives who came back to Alabama once it became apparent that there weren’t going to be the mad rash of deportations that the ideologues would like to fantasize about.

WHICH MEANS THIS story must be a nightmare for those conservative ideologues who are so eager to thwart the administration of Barack Obama because they mistakenly think he’s going to be bringing in more and more Latinos with his policies.

Trust me. If he were going to do that, then there would be little (if any) distrust among Latinos for Obama, and he’d be a shoo-in to win re-election – because the only people who’d be opposed to him would be those with the ideological hang-ups.

So the ideologues have to confront the fact that their attempts at public policy aren’t going to produce the sudden rush of people being booted from the country that they fantasized about – and that their intimidation factors also aren’t going to permanently scare people into staying away.

So for those of my ethnic brethren who are determined/willing to live in Alabama, you have my emotional support.

BESIDES, THE FACT that we have Latinos living in places like Alabama may well be the ultimate evidence that our numbers are growing and expanding everywhere.

There just isn’t anything that is going to stop that reality – no matter how the courts ultimately rule on the appeals to the Alabama law (and its Arizona “birth” mother, so to speak).

Which may be the ultimate reason why we ought to have our federal government officials working toward serious immigration reform. The people are here.

Better to deal with people openly, instead of continuing to have people living in the shadows of our society.

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