Prince William County, Virginia’s immigration policy is drawing the attention of state legislators in Richmond. I’d like to put politics aside in favor of a legal comparison with Arizona law. I start with current information on Arizona law, before comparing the practices of Prince William County, Virginia.

Arizona federal court partially barred Arizona’s “Safe Neighborhoods and Law Enforcement Support Act.” This is a 2010 Arizona State Law. The US government sued Arizona because Section 2(b) required police to verify the immigration status of all those arrested in Arizona. Arizona admitted that it would overload the federal database to verify all the world stopped. Keep in mind that he is legally “arrested” any time he is stopped in traffic. Arizona lawyers tried to say that arrestees the state reasonably suspected were illegal would be reviewed. The federal judge scoffed at this, after reviewing the history of the law. The court held that Arizona would encumber federal resources if it required immigration checks at the time of arrest.

Prince William County (“PWC”), Virginia July 2007 Resolution would have required immigration checks for those arrested if there is “probable cause” that they were unlawfully present. Probable cause is a higher standard than reasonable suspicion, mentioned above. An analogy is that murder is a higher standard than manslaughter. But PWC, Virginia, weakened the resolution in April 2008, without enacting the version closest to Arizona law. PWC orders immigration checks after (1) the arestie is detained and (2) there is probable cause to question the immigration status. However, in a non-custodial arrest (for example, a traffic stop), the officer may conduct an immigration check if there is probable cause to question the immigration status.

Rather, Section 6 authorizes Arizona officers to make a warrantless arrest of a person they have probable cause to believe has committed a deportable public offense. Section 6 applies to aliens who have committed an offense out of arizona and then entering Arizona with a “public offense” on your record. This is too complex an analysis for police in the field. In addition, the law did not require officers to contact the Department of Homeland Security before deciding whether the crime would cause the alien to be deported.