In December 2011, the Supreme Court of the United States agreed to review the 2010 Arizona’s tough and highly controversial immigration law that was declared unconstitutional by the San Francisco Court of Appeal. The law as adopted by the Arizona legislature allowed the police to inquire about the immigration status if someone is stopped for a local traffic violation.
In April 2012, the Supreme Court reviewed the law. Both Arizona and the Federal government who is charged with implementing immigration law in the U.S. presented their arguments to the Court. The most controversial issue was the power of the state law enforcement officers to decide immigration status of someone if they suspect the party is in the country illegally.
In late June 2012, the Court rendered its decision rejecting much of the Arizona’s law but leaving a key provision of the law to stand, indicating that the Federal law didn’t pre-empt the state’s instructions to its police to check the immigration status of the people they detain. Among the rejected provisions of the law are non-registration with the Federal government is a crime, seek or hold jobs without proper documents, and make warrantless arrests of some people suspected to be deportable.
