A coalition of immigrant rights groups is asking a federal appeals court to overturn a judge’s ruling that upheld one of the most controversial provisions of Arizona Senate Bill 1070. The groups deem the so-called “papers, please” provision discriminatory.

That provision requires police to check the immigration status of people they stop for other reasons. Last month, a federal judge said while most of the people affected may be Hispanic, the provision itself was not racially motivated. Jorge Castillo, an attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, disagrees.

"That opinion is problematic, is wrong, flat-out wrong on a legal basis because we all know the community that SB 1070 on its face will reach," he said. "And we all know the community that SB 1070's debaters and creators were attempting to reach."

SB 1070 was known as one of the strictest anti-illegal immigration laws in the country. Several of its provisions have since been blocked.