U.S. Judge Blocks Key Parts Of Arizona Immigration Law

by FRANK JAMES

Jae C. Hong/AP

Jose Luis, right, an illegal immigrant deported to Mexico Wednesday morning, gets dressed as he and other deportees gather near the Nogales Port of Entry in Mexico, Wednesday, July 28, 2010. 

A federal judge has stopped key parts of Arizona's anti-illegal immigration law from taking effect, including the section that would authorize police in the state to ask about immigration status of individuals they stop for other reasons.

The partial injunction by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton was a victory for opponents of the Arizona law, many of whom called the law racist and said it would lead to police questioning people about their whether they were in the U.S. legally or not because of their skin color or their ability to speak English.

The Associated Press reports:

PHOENIX (AP) - A judge has blocked the most controversial sections of Arizona's new immigration law from taking effect Thursday, handing a major legal victory to opponents of the crackdown.

The law will still take effect Thursday, but without many of the provisions that angered opponents - including sections that required officers to check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws.

The judge also put on hold a part of the law that required immigrants to carry their papers at all times, andmade it illegal for undocumented workers to solicit employment in public places.

We would love to provide a link to the judge's actual opinion but the U.S. District Court in Phoenix has one of the less helpful federal court web sites.

The court has now provided a link for the opinion but so many people must be trying to access it that the server is overwhelmed.

Here's a Scribd link to the judge's opinion.