News Post

Although the Beason-Hammon immigration act was signed into law over a year ago, questions about it’s requirements continue to come up, as evidenced by a call we received from a lawyer this week, so I thought it would be worthwhile to post about the act’s application to lawyers providing indigent defense services.

Under the terms of the act, any business entity or employer seeking work from the State of Alabama, including attorneys providing indigent defense services, must verify that it does not knowingly hire or employ unauthorized aliens and that it is enrolled in the federal E-Verify program.

Ricky McKinney, Director of the Office of Indigent Defense Services, circulated a memo back in February of this year setting out the requirements, but in case you missed it or are new to providing indigent defense services, before any payment voucher that you’ve submitted can be processed you must provide the OIDS with:

• a completed copy of the §13-31-9(a) affidavit on the required form; and
• a copy of the first and signature page of your E-Verify Memorandum of Understanding.

If you have any questions about these requirements, you may call the Office of Indigent Defense Services at (334) 242-7059 and they’ll be glad to help.