Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the controversial lawman known for his anti-immigration raids, said he was concerned whether federal agents will decline to pick up some illegal immigrants who are stopped by his deputies.
“I have my suspicions,’’ he said.
Hours after the ruling, the Department of Homeland Security canceled agreements with seven Arizona police departments that deputized officers to arrest people on immigration violations while on street patrol.
Federal immigration officers will help, but only if doing so conforms to the department’s priorities, including catching repeat violators and identifying and removing those who threaten public safety and national security, the department said.
If federal agents decline to pick up immigrants, the state doesn’t have any way to force federal authorities to pick them up and will likely have to let them go unless they’re suspected of committing a crime that would require them to be brought to jail, said Peter Spiro, a Temple University law professor who specializes in immigration law.
In that sense, the law is symbolic, Spiro said. “(The questioning requirement) is useful to the extent that it allows states to give notice of hostilities to undocumented immigrants,’’ Spiro said. “It allows for a formal expression of the state’s hostilities toward undocumented immigrants.’’
Meanwhile, if local police get the chance to enforce the law and are not blocked by a federal injunction, they will be closely watched not just by immigrant rights advocates who are on the lookout for racial profiling.
They will also face scrutiny from residents who have been frustrated by and blamed the federal government for a porous border and can under the immigration law sue police departments that don’t follow the “show me your papers’’ provision.
A federal hotline was set up for the public to report potential civil rights concerns.