Indiana's Republican-controlled Legislature took a slightly different, two-pronged route in following Arizona's lead.
First, a new state law scheduled to go into effect July 1 allowed state and local police to arrest any illegal immigrant they encountered who was facing a deportation order from an immigration court or who had been indicted or convicted of a felony.
Second, the law also blocked any government official from accepting identification cards issued by foreign consulates as valid forms of identification.
Federal District Judge Sarah Evans Barker blocked both aspects of the law two days before they were to take effect. She backed legal complaints by constitutional and civil-rights groups, calling Indiana's effort to "carve out such a permissible role … seriously flawed and generally unsuccessful."
The judge's decision, said Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, "underscores the challenge to Indiana and other state lawmakers who have tried to respond to Washington's failure."
