A lawful stop implicates the Fourth Amendment. A lawful contact does not. So the difference is: a lawful contact required no suspicion of any crime, but a lawful stop does.
The Court there decided that Pennsylvania could not require immigrants to carry documentation when the federal government did not impose such a requirement.
The question before us now is “Can the state require immigrants to carry documentation when the federal government ALSO requires them to carry documentation?”
She hasn’t ruled on the merits. It’s probably wiser to err on the side of caution; they can always begin enforcing the law after the case is heard, but it’s harder to unravel arrests and deportations if you enforce it and then decide you should not have.
For what it’s worth, I have always said that the best chance of attacking this law is on preemption grounds, and this won’t be decided by a district court ruling, no matter which side she finally comes down on. As to the merits, I believe the correct analysis of preemption permits the Arizona law to continue, since it does not conflict with federal law at all.
Give me an example of the kind of evidence that would convince you. For example, suppose I were to showthat no one had been convicted for violation of 1304(e) in ten years. Would that show “ignoring?”
I knew this would be a little over your head for you to understand without trying to put words in my mouth.
I never claimed anything about Obama. I never claimed he or the Federal government were not enforcing, or ignoring immigration law. Nor did I ever claim Bush was doing a better job.
My point was that to date, the Federal government has FAILED at keeping our borders secured. You can pretend the government is doing a great job, but millions of illegals currently in the country pretty much says it all.
Pardon me, but you folks who are answering the 1304(e) question by pointing out the number of deportations seem to be a bit mistaken as the penalty for violating the 1304(e) section is the aforementioned $100 fine or thirty days.