Supreme Court Ruling on SB 1070, Arizona's Immigration Law

On Monday, June 25, 2012, the US Supreme Court upheld the main provision of Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigrants but threw out three other parts.

 

These three provisions required immigrants to carry immigration papers at all times, banned illegal immigrants from soliciting work in public places, and requires state law enforcement officials to determine the immigration status of anyone they stop or arrest if they have reason to suspect that the individual might be in the country illegally. 

Though the court gave the go-ahead to a key provision of Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigrants, it also warned that people could not be held for extended periods for not having proper immigration papers.

In their ruling, the justices said the federal government had the ultimate authority to decide who would be held on immigration charges and possibly deported. Arizona police officers must also check with federal immigration agents before deciding to hold any suspects, the court ruled. Federal immigration officials in Arizona were instructed by the Department of Homeland Security  not to respond to traffic stops or similar law enforcement encounters unless the person in custody was a convicted criminal, had been removed from the U.S. previously and reentered illegally or was a recent border crosser. They will, however, respond to telephone requests from local law enforcement to verify a detainee's immigration status.

Arizona became the first of half a dozen U.S. states to adopt laws to drive illegal immigrants out. About 360,000 of the country's illegal immigrants, or 3 percent, reside in Arizona. Most of the state's nearly 2 million Hispanics are in the country legally.  Arizona borders Mexico, where the foreign ministry issued a statement assailing the high political costs it said were attached to such laws and voicing concern for the civil rights of Mexicans living in or visiting U.S. states with such laws.

Last year, the court upheld a different Arizona law that penalizes businesses for hiring illegal immigrants.

Source: NY Times, LA Times, Reuters

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