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BY ERIK SHUTE
ANCHOR BLAKE HANSON

You're watching multisource politics news analysis from Newsy.

Reports say Alabama’s immigrant families are calling in sick to school, withdrawing from districts, and even leaving the state all together to escape the oncoming tide from the toughest immigration bill to date. Fox News explains how its effects are clear and present in the classroom.

SERRIE: “In Montgomery county we're told more than 200 Hispanic kids stayed home from school...”
VALTIERRA: “...Do we need to go ahead, withdraw our students today? Do we come and wait a day or two or do we just leave?”
SERRIE: “Statewide, some families are doing just that. Not only taking their kids out of school but leaving the state of Alabama all together.”

Part of the new law requires schools to check the status of first-time enrollees in public schools. That was enough to convince some immigrant families to seek education elsewhere. CBS released a report on the dwindling numbers of Hispanic students.

“In Montgomery County, more than 200 Hispanic students were absent... In tiny Albertville, 35 students withdrew in one day. And about 20 students in Shelby County, in suburban Birmingham, either withdrew or told teachers they were leaving.”

A Huntsville City School Superintendent tried assure parents this was a misunderstanding. After witnessing the extreme exodus he went on Alabama English and Spanish public television to assure the school were simply collecting “statistics.”

“A large number of students who perhaps by foreign extraction -- not coming to school. Some parents come to withdraw their kids from schools. And we don’t want that to happen. This bill that was passed by our state is really about gathering statistics it’s not about coming to anybody’s house or taking anyone way. The schools are not enforcing the extradition, anything like that...”

WAAY in Alabama spoke directly with parents affected by the bill. Turns out the school system isn’t driving away Alabama’s Hispanic-American students -- it’s their parents and families who lack citizenship.

REPORTER: “Elizabeth Evenes and her newborn are U.S. citizens, her husband is an illegal immigrant. Because of the law they’re packing up their bags and moving out of state.”
EVENES: “She’s sad to go, but we have no other choice.”
REPORTER: “The McDonald students I spoke with seem well aware with what’s going on. Third grader Yaneli Antonio says 4 out of the 19 students in her class didn’t come to school”

On MSNBC, Al Sharpton weighs in on the law and Senator Scott Beason backing the bill. He says this is only the beginning -- Alabama’s immigrants be forced out of their schools, then homes, and country.

BEASON: “This is not about racism. Because if you’re in Alabama or in the country illegally whether you’re from Canada, Europe, Africa, wherever, the law will apply to you.”
SHARPTON: “Well suppose if I bring an African with me to visit my mom, or a Haitian? It gives them the right based on what they think, to treat them different from other people that visit that state... That should be resisted.”
 

As the media attention builds, political analysts look toward this issue as a key component in the race for 2012. President Barack Obama filed an appeal to overturn the law on Friday. 

Transcript by Newsy