The Supreme Court today struck down several portions of the Arizona immigration law, holding them unconstitutional. The Court held that Arizona’s controversial immigration law intruded on the federal government’s power’s to regulate immigration. And that Arizona cannot: 1) make it a misdemeanor for immigrations to fail to carry identification; 2) make it a crime for undocumented immigrants to apply for a job; 3) arrest someone based solely on the suspicion that a person is in the country illegally. In making this decision, the court held that the authority to enforce immigration laws rests with the federal government, and the states cannot enact their own immigration enforcement laws.
The ruling did however uphold the part of the law which required local police to investigate the legal status of anyone they stop or arrest if there is reason to suspect that the individual might be an illegal immigrant. However they did hold that this ruling does not prevent constitutional challenges to how this part of the law is being enforced.
There are several states including Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah who have their own controversial immigration policies. These states must now bring their laws in line with the Supreme Court’s ruling.
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