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A long awaited ruling yesterday by the US Supreme Court on Arizona’s controversial law SB1070 is being criticized by immigrant rights activists. Carlos Garcia with the advocacy group “Puente Arizona” said, “For now, racial profiling is law in Arizona.” Garcia’s summary of the mixed court ruling reflects a widespread belief that the court sanctioned racial profiling by upholding the so-called “show me your papers” provision of SB1070. This provision allows Arizona police to check the immigration status of any person they have stopped or arrested. The Justices did indicate that SB1070 remained on shaky legal ground if its application resulted in bias, writing, “[t]here is a basic uncertainty about what the law means and how it will be enforced.” The court struck down three additional provisions, saying they infringed on the powers of the federal government. The ruling held that Arizona cannot make it a crime for an undocumented person to seek work or to fail to register upon entering the state and Arizona police may not arrest a person on suspicion of committing a deportable crime without a warrant.

President Obama, whose administration challenged that law, yesterday expressed disagreement with the Court’s decision to uphold the show-me-your-papers provision writing, “No American should ever live under a cloud of suspicion because of what they look like.” Hours within the ruling being issued yesterday the Department of Homeland Security announced it will curb cooperation on immigration enforcement with the state of Arizona. DHS has canceled its 287g task forces, which allowed local police to make arrests based on immigration violations. Governor Jan Brewer, who earlier on Monday hailed the Supreme Court decision as a victory for her state, called the President’s action, “unconscionable.”

GUEST: Antonio Bustamante, Civil rights attorney in Phoenix, Arizona