A part of Alabama's immigration law that ordered public schools to check the citizenship status of new students was ruled unconstitutional Monday by a federal court, but the controversial "show me your papers" provision was upheld.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Alabama schools provision wrongly singles out children who are in the country illegally. Alabama was the only state that passed such a requirement and the 11th Circuit previously had blocked that part of the law from being enforced.

The court also upheld the "show me your papers" provision in Alabama and Georgia immigration laws that allows police officers to ask someone they stop for another reason -- and who they suspect may be in the country illegally -- for their immigration documents.

As for Alabama, judges said fear of the law "significantly deters undocumented children from enrolling in and attending school..." Last fall, educators in Alabama reported countless number of students withdrawing from schools as a result of the law.

Both private groups and the Obama administration filed lawsuits to block Alabama's law, considered the toughest in the country.

The court, however, upheld parts of immigration laws in Alabama and Georgia allowing law enforcement officers to check documents of people they stop.

And the panel left in place an injunction that blocks a section of the Georgia law that allows for the prosecution of people who knowingly harbor or transport an undocumented immigrant during the commission of a crime.

In Alabama, the judges sided with opponents of the law on other key points, including challenges to sections that made it illegal to harbor undocumented immigrants; made it a crime for undocumented immigrants to seek work; and made it a state crime for people in the country illegally not to have registration documents.

The decisions follow a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding parts of a similar law in Arizona. The Atlanta-based court referenced that decision in its opinion to lift the injunction on the suspect verification section.

Georgia and Alabama are among several states that have enacted anti-illegal immigration laws in recent years. Proponents have argued they are necessary in part because of alleged federal inaction. Opponents have argued that many of the laws are punitive to immigrants, result in profiling, and that immigration policy must be steered and enforced by the federal government.

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