Arizona immigration law opponents challenge police stops

Opponents of Arizona’s controversial immigration law have asked a US District Court to hold off on passing a part of the legislation which allows police to demand to see the immigration papers of anyone they arrest and suspect of being in the state illegally. The US Supreme Court has already upheld the provision.

Immigration groups and the American Civil Liberties Union have asked Judge Susan Bolton to block the law until she has had time to consider arguments not heard by the Supreme Court.

National Immigration Law Center attorney, Karen Tumlin, said the provision which required those stopped by the authorities to show their papers was riddled with racial discrimination. She added that because national origin and race played such a big factor in the law being passed, it must now be blocked. She went on to say that it was important that this part of the legislation was held back so that people were not subject to prolonged and unlawful detention by the authorities.

Representative of the state, John Bouma, said the law was in no way racially motivated and that the state of Arizona was within its rights to pass the legislation. He added that the legislation needed to be in place to help deal with the problem of illegal immigration.

The law has already been challenged by the Obama administration which claimed that immigration policy was under the sole jurisdiction of the federal government. However, the Supreme Court has since upheld the right of the Arizona police force to make checks on a citizen’s immigration status.