Federal Judge Approves Arizona’s Show-Me-Your-Papers Law

Submitted by Cheston Catalano

U. S. District Judge Susan Bolton says Arizona authorities can ascertain the immigration status of people they stop for other offenses.

The requirement has been at the center of a two-year legal battle that culminated in a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June upholding the requirement.

Opponents then asked Bolton to block the requirement, arguing that it would lead to systematic racial profiling and unreasonably long detentions of Latinos if enforced.

Lawyers for Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer urged the judge to let the requirement go into effect, saying the law’s opponents were merely speculating in their racial profiling claims, that police have received training to avoid discriminatory practices and that officers must have “reasonable suspicion” that a person is in the country illegally to trigger the requirement.

By: Cheston Catalano

Cheston Catalano is a Kentucky-based journalist whose work has been featured in the Chattanooga Times Free Press and the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle. He is a long-time contributor to Liberaland.