Court: Ga. police may verify immigration status

BILL BARROW, Associated Press
Updated 2:12 p.m., Monday, August 20, 2012

ATLANTA (AP) — A federal appeals court ruled Monday that law enforcement in Georgia may verify the immigration status of criminal suspects who fail to produce proper identification.

A three-judge panel of 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that a lower court's hold blocking that section of the state's 2011 immigration law should be lifted. It was not immediately clear when that would happen.

The panel did leave in place part of the injunction blocking a section that allows for the prosecution of certain individuals who knowingly harbor or transport an illegal immigrant during the commission of a crime.

A lower court must still rule on the broader challenge to the law by activist groups and labor unions. Monday's decision dealt only with preliminary injunctions.

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