It is rumored the state’s new immigration law is the cause of Florala’s latest business closure.

Local residents reported that the operators of El Toro, the city’s Mexican restaurant, packed up the building’s contents and fled Sunday night.

City Clerk Kathy Rathel said, “People said they saw them loading trucks with equipment like stoves. They didn’t notify the city that they were leaving, and we really hate to hear it.

“It’s strictly rumor, but our best guess as to the reason why is because of the new immigration law,” she said. “They were afraid, I guess, not for the people who worked up front (in the restaurant), but probably for the ones who worked in the back who weren’t legal.”

Rathel said the business appeared to have been making a profit since its November 2004 opening.

“It was always busy,” she said. “They had very good food there, and it was a nice place to eat.”

Joy Taylor of Florala agreed.

“I enjoyed the food there,” Taylor said. “There always seemed to be a good crowd. I heard the comments about people seeing them load up and leave over the weekend, and the speculation is that it might be because of the immigration law.”

One caveat of the state’s immigration law requires business owners to produce citizenship documentation when renewing or purchasing a county business license. Deadline for those renewals is Oct. 31, which could have impacted the restaurant’s owners to leave.

Probate Judge Ben Bowden, whose office is required to issue the county business license, spoke to the Andalusia Lions Club Wednesday. He said similar situations like with El Toro could occur in the future. He said some 2,000 letters were sent out earlier in the month to notify local business owners of the new licensing requirements.

“What it did basically was explain that business owners must provide a document to prove their citizenship, just like with tag renewals,” Bowden said. “That’s typically an Alabama driver’s license or non-driver ID card, or it could be a copy of a birth certificate, passport or military ID.

“However, the law exempts the owners of corporations, LLCs and LLPs from proving documentation of lawful presence,” he said. “That means that those owners now have to provide whatever documentation they used to form their company, which could be an article of incorporation, or the like.”

For municipalities, the issuance of business licenses could become cumbersome, as well.

Rathel said in Florala, business licenses will be billed in December and due by the end of January. It is unknown citizenship status will affect city business owners, since the city contracts with a third-party for the licenses’ billing.