A federal judge in Georgia has lifted an injunction preventing law enforcement from checking the immigration status of individuals involved in routine traffic stops, a provision contained in the state’s controversial 2011 immigration statute.

The decision comes after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals declined to issue permanent injunctions in connection with Georgia and Alabama’s far-reaching immigration legislation and previously struck down most of Alabama’s law. For its part, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the federal government’s primacy in matters of immigration law in a holding involving a similar Arizona statute, but upheld a provision permitting police officers to conduct immigration status checks in the course of routine traffic stops.

According to a recent report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, some state and local authorities, including the Georgia State Patrol, have announced that they will defer to federal authorities in enforcing the statute and would allow individual officers to decide whether a suspect’s immigration status should be investigated. To this end, state authorities have emphasized that the law’s enforcement is discretionary and may, in some cases, be prohibitive due to funding and manpower constraints.

The statute, which gives Georgia authorities the power to check the immigration status of individuals who are believed to have committed state or federal crimes and who are unable to provide identification, is being closely watched by immigrant rights advocates who fear that enforcement may be selective, discriminatory, or otherwise improper.