Poor wording in bill helped judge reach decision on SB1070

Tim Steller Arizona Daily Star
July 28, 2010 11:01 am

The poor phrasing of the central provision in SB 1070 led to it being blocked, according to the injunction issued today by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton.

The first sentence of Section 2(B) of the law details the situations in which police officers must attempt to determine a person’s immigration status. It says that during any lawful stop, detention or arrest, if an officer has reasonable suspicion that a person is illegally in the country, the officer must make an effort to find out if the person is legally in the country.

But the next sentence says simply: “Any person who is arrested shall have the person’s immigration status determined before the person is released.â€