Arizona governor signs toughest law against illegal immigration

DENVER - Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer on Friday signed the toughest law against illegal immigration in the country, shrugging aside warnings from religious and civil rights leaders - and President Barack Obama - that it would lead to widespread racial profiling.

Hours after Obama denounced the measure as "misguided," Brewer signed the bill, which makes it a crime to not possess proper immigration paperwork and requires police to determine whether people are in the United States illegally.

Obama signaled that a legal showdown might be possible, and Department of Justice officials said they "were reviewing the bill" but declined to discuss the legislation further. Immigrant rights groups have vowed a court fight, arguing that regulating immigration is a federal matter.

Brewer, at an afternoon news conference in Phoenix, cast the law in terms of public safety, saying, "We cannot sacrifice our safety to the murderous greed of drug cartels." Brewer said she would order the state police training agency to formulate guidelines to train officers and protect against racial profiling.

But the law's opponents were highly skeptical it could be enforced without police singling out Latinos. One provision prevents police from using race "solely" to form a suspicion about someone's legality, but the law does not prevent race from being a factor.

Religious leaders and police chiefs - and thousands of callers to the governor's office - pressed for Brewer to reject the law.

But a recent poll showed 70 percent of state voters supported the measure - even though 53 percent said it could lead to civil rights violations. Because of that broad support in the state that is the main gateway for illegal immigrants into the United States, people on both sides of the debate have long expected Brewer to sign the bill.

The law creates the new misdemeanor and requires local police to enforce it. The law's supporters argue that fears of widespread racial profiling are overblown, and that it will instead be used sparingly by police to augment investigations into crimes.

The legislation:

MAKES IT A CRIME to be in the country illegally.

REQUIRES LOCAL POLICE officers to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are illegal immigrants.

ALLOWS LAWSUITS against agencies that hinder enforcement of immigration laws.

MAKES IT ILLEGAL to hire illegal immigrants for day labor or knowingly transport them.