Ariz. judge raises the realities of porous border

By JACQUES BILLEAUD and PAUL DAVENPORT Associated Press Writers

PHOENIX (AP) - The judge who will decide whether Arizona's new immigration is constitutional hasn't indicated whether she'll put the law on hold before it takes effect next week.

But U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton went beyond dry legal analysis at court hearings on Thursday to point out some of the everyday realities of illegal immigration and how that applies to the new law.

She noted that the federal government erected signs in a wilderness area south of Phoenix that warn visitors about immigrant and drug smugglers passing through public lands.

Bolton also says the stash houses where smugglers hide immigrants from Mexico before bringing them into the country's interior have become a fixture on the news in Arizona.