AZ law goes beyond federal law, forbidding work, allowing some profiling, FactCheck says

FactCheck.org has tackled Arizona’s new anti-immigration law and found that, contrary to what some have claimed, the law is not just a state version of federal law. And it allows some racial profiling—but as already allowed by the courts.

The group’s analysis found that the new law does more than federal law, by adding these provisions: Contrary to what the law’s defenders often say, the new statute does more than merely mirror federal law. For example:

• It’s a state crime for an illegal immigrant to apply for a job, or to solicit work publicly.
• The law also makes it a misdemeanor for a citizen driving a vehicle to stop to hire anyone if that “impedes” traffic.
• Citizens will be able to sue officials or agencies whose policies interfere with vigorous enforcement of federal immigration law.

And on racial profiling, FactCheck found:

• The amended law allows police to consider “race, color or national origin” when deciding whether to ask somebody for proof of citizenship, but only to the extent already deemed constitutional by the courts.
• It remains to be seen how police will interpret the law’s anti-profiling language in practice. State officials tell us they have yet to work out what factors police should be trained to use to establish “reasonable suspicion” of illegal status.
• Federal officials are open to criticisms similar to some of those being made about Arizona’s law. A federal manual for training state and local officials says they may consider whether a person has a “thick foreign accent” or looks “out of place” when deciding whether to ask them about their immigration status.

FactCheck.org is a project of the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center .