The ruling means that while Arizona law enforcement can inquire into immigration status, but can no longer do anything about it without the permission of the federal government, the article states.

“The problem for the state of Arizona following that inquiry is that they cannot then proceed to arrest them,” Cruz told Channel 3. “If the federal government declines to take the person into custody, the state of Arizona cannot arrest that person.”

Bender said the ruling means a change in law enforcement behavior.

“Those law enforcement officials who have been arresting or detaining people because they think they are here illegally have to stop doing that,” Bender told azfamily.com. “It is not and cannot be a state crime to be in the country illegally.”

“You can only arrest them for something else, and while you’ve got them for something else, you can look into immigration status.”

Read the article here.

Cruz teaches Immigration Law and Comprehensive Law Practice, and directs the College’s Immigration Law & Policy Clinic, which represents unaccompanied minors in immigration removal proceedings. Cruz writes articles about immigration law, clinical education and therapeutic jurisprudence, and has co-authored several immigration law manuals used by immigration practitioners and pro-se detainees at Immigration Detention Centers throughout the country. She also comments at ImmigrationProf Blog, A Member of the Law Professor Blog Network.

Bender teaches courses on U.S. and Arizona constitutional law. He has written extensively about constitutional law, intellectual property and Indian law, and is coauthor of the two-volume casebook/treatise, Political and Civil Rights in the United States. Bender has argued more than 20 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and actively participates in constitutional litigation in federal and state courts.