Posted on December 12, 2011

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Arizona Immigration Law

Fox News Latino, December 12, 2011

The Supreme Court has agreed to rule on Arizona’s controversial immigration law, setting up three politically charged cases -the health care overhaul and a fight over Texas redistricting maps- on its election-year calendar.

The justices said Monday they will review a federal appeals court ruling that blocked several tough provisions in the Arizona law. One of those requires that police, while enforcing other laws, question a person’s immigration status if officers suspect the person is in the country illegally.

The Obama administration challenged the Arizona law by arguing that regulating immigration is the job of the federal government, not states. Similar laws in Alabama, South Carolina and Utah also are facing administration lawsuits.

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In April, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a federal judge’s ruling halting enforcement of several provisions of Arizona’s S.B. 1070.

Among the blocked provisions: requiring all immigrants to obtain or carry immigration registration papers; making it a state criminal offense for an undocumented immigrant to seek work or hold a job; and allowing police to arrest suspected unauthorized immigrants without a warrant.

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