Phoenix -- SB 1070 is now the law of the land in Arizona, or at least parts of it are. Federal District Judge Susan Bolton blocked several subsections from going into effect on July 29. For the federal government, the civil-rights organizations and the individuals who filed the lawsuits, it was a partial victory. For the Hispanic community in Arizona, the ruling was a sigh of relief.

Judge Bolton blocked the most controversial parts of the law based on the assumption that they were pre-empted by federal law. One would have required law-enforcement officers to ask for proof of the immigration status of someone they came into legal contact with if they determined there was a “reasonable suspicion” that the person was here illegally. Critics of this section claimed it would have led to racial profiling.

Another would have made it a crime for an undocumented immigrant to solicit, apply for or perform work. A third would have given the officers discretion to arrest someone if they felt the person had committed a crime that made him or her deportable. But perhaps the most important section the judge blocked is the one that would have made being in the country illegally a state crime. It is now clear that it is not a crime, but rather a violation.

Since I arrived in Phoenix a day before the hearings in federal court, I've met some of those people whom the state of Arizona would like to consider criminals, as well as their sympathizers. Dozens of them have held a vigil in front of the Capitol building ever since the day Gov. Jan Brewer signed SB 1070 into law more than three months ago.

We stationed ourselves for broadcast nearby. Daily, a group would walk over and tell us their stories: the man who was concerned that his family would be split up because his wife was undocumented; the woman who was a citizen but was afraid that, because of the color of her skin and her heavy accent, she would become a target. Another woman told me that when she went to work every day, she feared she would not return home and her children would be left alone. The fear came through loud and clear in their voices and their expressions. Many wept.

I was particularly touched by little Ezequiel Luna. The 9-year-old came over with his mother to make a special request of me: “Can you please come to my school and talk to the kids about what is going to happen with this law?” he said. “Many of them are afraid their parents are going to be taken away.” His mother told me how children's conversations in school had turned from homework and play to fear of being separated from their parents.

You could feel the tension in the air in the days leading up to the judge's ruling. When the verdict was announced, just hours before the law was to go into effect, the mood went from somber to joyful. There was reason to celebrate.

But there was something that Judge Bolton said during the hearings for the lawsuits the week before that really stuck in my head. She asked lawyers representing the federal government, “Why can't Arizona be as inhospitable as they wish to people who have entered or remained in the United States?” With her ruling, she gave the state a free pass to do just that.

So before opponents of the law start organizing victory parties, they must take a close look at some of the parts of SB 1070 that were allowed to go into effect: no sanctuary cities; allows citizens to sue officials who don't comply with federal immigration law; and makes it a crime to transport or harbor what the law calls “an unlawfully present alien.” That means if someone were to give a family member a ride or if a church were to provide shelter for a needy family, they would be sanctioned.

The battle continues. Both sides have vowed to appeal. The fight could end up in the Supreme Court. For now, Arizona stands as the most inhospitable and hostile state in the country. Other states planning on adopting similar laws beware: Inhospitality could be a costly move.

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(Maria Elena Salinas is the author of “I AM MY FATHER'S DAUGHTER: LIVING A LIFE WITHOUT SECRETS.” Reach her at www .mariaesalinas.com)

© 2010 by Maria Elena Salinas

Distributed by King Features Syndicate