While the U.S. Department of Justice questions the edicts constitutionality, the political volley between the state and federal governments have stalled proper enforcement of the law, according to local law enforcement.

“When we get near completion of any kind of training, the court stays another section. So we have to go back to the drawing board,” Foley Police Chief David Wilson said.

Several sections of the law were blocked by 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Oct. 14 after a request from the Justice Department and a coalition of civil rights groups, including a portion making a “willful failure to complete or carry an alien registration card" a misdemeanor for migrant foreigners.

Federal mandates may also make enforcement of the new law difficult. Along with the Department of Justice’s current lawsuit and impending investigation of the state and the new bill, federal civil rights laws allow citizens to bring suit against officials if they consider their rights violated by those officials.

When boiled down, officers walk a fine line when attempting to enforce the law. The training has been broken down into three basic ideas, Wilson said.

“We must have reasonable suspicion to be in contact with that person and it cannot be based on race, color, or national origin. If the person we’ve stopped is suspected of being an illegal immigrant, we cannot determine that. Only the feds can determine that,” Wilson said. “Those are your biggies: you’ve got to have a lawful reason to stop them, reasonable suspicion, and they are not illegal until the federal government says they are.”

Officers with the Foley Police Department started a new training program last week at the Southwest Alabama Police Academy. The Stapleton-based academy offers the most recent training available that accommodates the latest changes to the law, Wilson said.

“If nothing else changes, we will finish our training, launch it with our troops and start enforcing the immigration law, legally and correctly, like we’re supposed to,” Wilson said.

Amid questions of the law’s enforceability and constitutionality, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley announced that the law needs to be “simplified” at a Birmingham Business Alliance last Monday, according to an Associated Press report.

"We did pass a very complicated bill," Bentley said. “It's not a bad bill. It's just somewhat confusing and it's difficult to explain to people.”

“As I have said on many occasions, if the federal government had done its job by enforcing its own immigration laws, we wouldn't be here today,” Bentley said in the statement. “Unfortunately, by failing to do its job, the federal government has left the problem of dealing with illegal immigration to the states.

“Alabama needed a tough law against illegal immigration.  We now have one.   I will continue to fight to see this law upheld,” he said.

“The Department of Justice, the chief law enforcement agency in this country, has failed in its responsibility to enforce federal immigration laws,” Sessions said in a press release. “The Justice Department needs to stop going after states that are taking steps in harmony with federal laws to see that our immigration laws actually are enforced and to help end the lawlessness.”