Supreme Court takes up Arizona's illegal immigration law - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Arizona's law to crack down on illegal immigration goes before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Federal courts have refused to let four key provisions take effect, including requiring police to question a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws.

Five other states have adopted variations of Arizona's law. Indiana's General Assembly last year passed the law giving local police authority to enforce immigration laws in certain circumstances. But three immigrants, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana and the National Immigration Law Center, filed a federal lawsuit contending the law would give police unconstitutional arrest powers against immigrants who haven't committed crimes.

Arizona says illegal immigration hits it hard, with a third of the nation's illegal crossings coming through its 370-mile border, and that even the president admits America's overall efforts come up short:

"In sum, the system is broken, and everybody knows it," said President Obama.

Frustrated by what it considered lax federal enforcement, the state passed a tough new law two years ago.

Most controversially, it required police making arrests or traffic stops to check the immigration status of anyone suspected of being here illegally and to detain them until their status was verified. The Obama administration immediately went to court, arguing Arizona went too far, and got the law blocked.

Civil liberties groups claim detentions would amount to racial profiling.

"That's likely to be based on whether somebody is Latino, or Asian-American, what their last name is, whether they speak English, what they look like; all illegitimate indicators of someone's immigration status," said Thomas Saenz, Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund.

The lower courts agreed with the administration's claim that immigration is mainly a federal responsibility. The government says Arizona's goal of enforcement at all costs upsets what should be the nation's priorities.

The federal government says it's concentrating on the most dangerous illegal immigrants: those who commit crimes or present a risk of terrorism, and that Arizona would flood the system with anyone who fails to have the right papers.

But the state says it's doing just what Congress intended when federal immigration laws were passed - and that is giving states some role.

"This Arizona law is exactly what Congress had in mind, especially when it comes to making sure that there's cooperation between state and local law enforcement and the federal immigration officials," said Paul Clement, attorney for the state of Arizona.

Arizona has already inspired Alabama and half a dozen other states to pass tough laws of their own. Now the justices will decide just how far the states can go.