U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton ruled Friday to uphold one of the most contentious areas of Arizona’s S.B. 1070 immigration law.
The judge rejected claims that the so-called “show your papers” provision of the law discriminated against Hispanics, Reuters reported. This decision will allow police to check the immigration status of anyone they stop.
Bolton said that immigrant rights activists failed to show that the police would profile Latinos over other people.
She also upheld a provision that allows police to check the legal status of anyone detained in the state.
The ruling came just after a federal judge dismissed the U.S. Justice Department lawsuit against Arizona’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his deputies on the grounds of civil rights abuses.
S.B. 1070 has been extremely successful in decreasing the illegal immigrant population in Arizona. Pew Research Center reported in 2008 that an estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants lived in the state, that number dropped by 40 percent to just 300,000 by 2012.
