On Monday, June 25, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court published its decision on the Arizona v. United States
case, which challenged the constitutionality of Arizona’s immigration
enforcement law, SB 1070. The Supreme Court decided by a 5 to 3 margin
that, for the most part, Arizona’s attempt to manage federal immigration
laws is indeed unconstitutional. The Court blocked three key components
of the law, which attempted to:
- Make it a crime for immigrants to fail to register under a federal law.
- Make it a crime for undocumented immigrants to work or seek to obtain work.
- Allow Arizona police to arrest people without warrants in cases when
the police have probable cause to believe the people have done things
that would make them deportable under federal immigration law.
The Supreme Court was clear in its ruling that immigration law is
within the federal domain. These three components were all pre-empted by
federal law, the Supreme Court stated.
The Court did not, however, strike down one provision which allows
Arizona police to determine the immigration status of people they
lawfully stop, arrest or detain, in cases when the police are reasonably
suspicious of the detained person’s immigration status. The Court
clearly stated, however, t
