PHOENIX -- Police and protesters are gearing up for Arizona's new immigration law, which is scheduled to take effect Thursday.
Officers are getting last-minute training on the law, including how to avoid racial profiling, while preparing for a potential influx of detainees.
In Maricopa County, Sheriff Joe Arpaio plans his 17th crime and immigration sweep. He says he has made space in his outdoor jail for an additional 100 people and says he'll find more room if necessary.
Arpaio says regardless of any ruling in the legal effort to block the law from taking effect, he'll carry out his sweep.
Protesters in Phoenix are planning an early morning march from the state Capitol followed by a rally outside Arpaio's office. In addition, the activist group CodePink says it plans to block the driveway of immigration offices in downtown Phoenix.
Ariz. sheriff: I'll jail immigration protesters
Arpaio says he's "not going to put up with any civil disobedience" when the state's new immigration law takes effect. He says that if protesters want to block his jail, he'll put them in it.
The Arizona law, which takes effect Thursday, requires officers enforcing other laws to check a person's immigration status if they suspect the person is in the country illegally.
Arpaio told ABC's "Good Morning America" he doesn't know "what the big hype is."
He says it's "a crime to be here illegally and everyone should enforce" the law.
Feds oppose merger of immigration challenges
Lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department oppose a request to merge their challenge to the new Arizona immigration law with a lawsuit by a police officer who also is seeking to overturn the law.
The federal lawyers oppose Phoenix police Officer David Salgado's request to consolidate the cases because they say it would prejudice or delay their challenge.
The officer's attorney had argued that the cases are virtually identical because they claim the state law is trumped by federal
immigration law and because both seek to keep the state law from being enforced.
The Justice Department says it's challenging more sections of the law than Salgado and that its contention that the law is trumped by federal law differs from the officer's arguments.
Brewer has multiple stops in Tucson on Wednesday
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer will be in Tucson much of Wednesday, with multiple appearances on her public schedule.
Brewer begins those appearances with an address to the state training academy for correctional academy in the morning.
The noon hour will have her at the Arizona Center for Innovation.
The final stop on her public schedule is a tour of Vail Academy and High School.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
