Arizona's Altered Immigration Law SB 1070 Takes Effect

On Thursday, July 29 2010, SB 1070 went into effect, but not after a federal judge killed certain elements of the bill.

Federal judge Susan Bolton, a Clinton appointee, gave the Obama administration a partial victory by granting a temporary and partial injunction on the immigration law. Bolton's ruling, however, did not entirely gut the bill and does not preclude Arizona's immigration law from taking effect.

On July 06, President Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder with the support and encouragement of the Mexican government followed the coalition of the NAACP, the ACLU, a Mexican-American advocacy group and other similarly oriented organizations in suing the People of Arizona.

Click here for more on information on US v AZ.

Click here for more information on the civil rights groups' lawsuit against Arizona.

The DOJ included a Motion in its lawsuit against Arizona. The Motion requested a preliminary injunction to stop SB 1070 from going into effect prior to the Court's final ruling on the constitutionality of the bill.

Is the Arizona Immigration Law Constitutional?Join the discussion here.

On July 28, Judge Bolton after holding hearings on the multiple lawsuits granted a temporary partial injunction against SB 1070 eliminating certain elements of the bill.

Many analysts state that Judge Susan Bolton killed controversial, key elements of the bill.

What did the judge remove from SB 1070?

They include, but not limited to the following:

• The requirement for officers to make reasonable attempts to determine the immigration status of a person stopped, detained or arrested when they have reasonable suspicion to believe the person is unlawfully present and requiring verification of the immigration status of any arrested person prior to release. Note the term "requirement," such concrete terms may allow wiggle room for "discretionary" inquiries.

• A crime for failure to carry alien registration or related papers. Note: immigrants are currently required under both state and federal laws to carry alien registration documents at all times, as per federal law section 8 USC sec.1304 and 8 USC sec. 1306.

• The warrantless arrest for any person even when there is probable cause to believe that the person has committed an offense that makes the person removable from the U.S.

All was not lost, however, as the judge allowed other provisions of the Arizona law to remain in place, which went into effect today.

What parts of SB 1070 can still be enforced?

• Sanctuary cities can still be blocked

• It is a crime to pick up day laborers

• Sanctions can be taken against those intentionally hiring illegal aliens

• Employers must check employment eligibility of employees

Click here for the 36-page order rendered by Judge Bolton.

What's next for the Arizona Immigration Law?

The ruling by Judge Bolton was only on the Motion part of the lawsuit US v. Arizona. Governor Jan Brewer announced she will appeal the ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

The appeal, which could be filed as early as today, if granted will not be heard until after the summer. It is expected that the Obama administration's lawsuit questioning the constitutionality of SB 1070 will ultimately be heard by the SCOTUS.

Meanwhile, the altered version of Arizona's new Immigration law went into effect and is enforceable by Arizona officials.

Sources: embedded in article.