More than two years after it was signed, the most contentious part of Arizona’s landmark immigration legislation is expected to go into effect after a new federal court ruling, the Associated Press reports. The U.S. Supreme Court has laid a legal minefield that Arizona now must navigate when the critical provision takes effect. The clause requires Arizona police officers to check the immigration status of people they stop while enforcing other laws and who they suspect are in the country illegally.
The Supreme Court left the door open to arguments that the law leads to civil rights violations. Attorneys would need actual victims to make that case. Civil rights activists are preparing to scour the state for such victims. Lydia Guzman, who runs Respect/Respeto, a Phoenix group that tracks racial profiling, said volunteers at the organization’s call center have already been told to listen for new complaints when the requirement goes into effect. Arizona police were trained on how to implement the law shortly after Gov. Jan Brewer signed it in 2010.