Video by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

A U.S. federal judge has cleared the way for the border state of Arizona to begin enforcing a controversial part of a state law that requires police to check the immigration status of people stopped during the investigation of other crimes.

The ruling requires authorities to question those suspected of being in the country illegally.

The requirement is the centerpiece of a contentious piece of immigration legislation at the center of a two-year legal battle that ended in June with the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the key provision. Several other parts of the law were rejected.

Video by Immigration and Customs Enforcement

The discovery of 49 decapitated and handless corpses on a highway near the city of Monterrey, in Mexico's northern Nuevo Leon state on Sunday, has drawn attention once again to the brutal drug war that has claimed more than 50,000 lives in that Latin American nation during the past six years. Shortly before the discovery in Monterrey, dozens of bodies were found in the border city of Nuevo Laredo and in the central city of Guadalajara.

Video by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Video by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol

More than 100 Soldiers assigned to the 103rd Engineer Company "Vipers", 4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, based at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. are currently on a 30-day deployment in support of the U.S. Border Patrol's Southwest border infrastructure improvement and construction program along the U.S./Mexico border in Arizona.

As the U.S. Supreme Court takes up Arizona's controversial immigration enforcement law, the violent drug war in Mexico continues, with the death toll over the past six years exceeding 50,000. Supporters of the Arizona law often talk about violence spilling over the border, but there has been very little impact on the U.S. side, where trade and tourism continue in spite of all the bad press. The biggest complaints there have to do with the economy.

A view of tranquility

People who live on the hillside in Nogales, Arizona look out on Mexico every day, and all looks tranquil.

Video by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol