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‘Qué Pasa’ in Immigration: Awaiting a Ruling on SB 1070

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The initial hearing in the federal lawsuit against Arizona law SB 1070, held yesterday in Phoenix, continues to dominate the headlines in the Spanish-language press.

Awaiting a ruling on SB 1070. Reuters, Once Noticias and Yahoo!, among others, lead by noting that Judge Susan Bolton hasn’t yet issued a ruling to stop the law from going into effect on July 29th—although she could do so at any time.

The Department of Justice, one of the plaintiffs, argued during yesterday’s hearing that the federal government is responsible for making and enforcing immigration law; a coalition of civil-rights and immigrants’ rights groups argues additionally that the law is discriminatory. SB 1070 says that police can ask someone for immigration documents in the course of an interaction at any time, as long as there is reasonable suspicion that the person is undocumented. AFP reports that Judge Bolton expressed some doubts over the constitutionality of SB 1070 during the hearing.