One thing that is so frustrating about this, is the disinformation being thrown out there by the truckload. There is absolutely NO difference in the AZ law and Federal law, or what it allows and doesn't allow from the LEO or Federal agent. A Federal agent doesn't have a reason to make legal contact with anyone in Arizona, unless they have violated a Federal law. For this reason, in most cases, such a person would have a felony warrant against them, before the Federal agent would ever be making initial contact. They would have no other reason to be making such a contact, as that would fall under the jurisdiction of local law enforcement, not Federal agents... (Federal agents can't stop you for speeding, it's not their job.)
A Border Patrol officer, is an agent of the Federal government, and they are supposed to apprehend persons they suspect have crossed the border illegally. Not arrest them, but apprehend them. They are then supposed to turn them over to ICE for verification and/or deportation, there is no "arrest" made. The Arizona law, does not allow law enforcement officers to "arrest" people they suspect of being here illegally! The law doesn't even allow them to detain and question people on that basis alone. It states specifically, in four different places, that racial profiling is not allowed, not permitted, and not authorized in any way. For the Arizona LEO to implement this law, some other law has to first be broken or suspected with probable cause and reasonable suspicion, and a legal contact made with the person in question. They can arrest the person on other violations of the law, and THEN check their legal status, which is exactly the same as what any Federal agent can do. In fact, a Border Patrol officer can detain someone they suspect has crossed the border illegally, without any other law being broken, while an Arizona LEO must have some other violation of the law in play.
But this has all been distorted by the left-wing media, the same as they did with Katrina, Schiavo, Bush, Iraq, Palin, and everything else... It's the new Liberal militant tactic... Initiate an outright lie and distortion, and continue to pound it home, over and over and over and over, day and night, 24-7, as long as it takes, until you have enough half-wits believing it that it becomes perceived as the truth and fact. You can't blame them, it's a strategy that has worked for them time and time again, and they keep having success with it, because too many people are just disconnected and don't pay attention. They hear stuff on the news, they hear stuff from liberal politicos, they read the NY Times and watch Keith Olbermann or Jon Stewart, and in a sense, become brainwashed. So far, the opposition just hasn't come up with a way to combat this strategy... what do you do when your opponent is content to lie their ass off repeatedly, and insist they are being honest?