York and other Republicans have been insisting that the "lawful contact" language in the Arizona law only permits authorities to ask for "papers" if the suspect is stopped for a different offense -- pulled over for speeding, etc.
I went around and around with a commenter the other day on the Huffington Post about this language, and I argued that "lawful contact" could mean just about anything, from saying "hello" on a street corner to a police officer responding to a bicycle crash. Turns out, I was on the right track. Media Matters asked the Republican House majority's Homeland Security research analyst, Rene Guillen, about the "lawful contact" language and this is how she explained it:
...lawful contact is essentially any interaction a police officer may have with an individual through the normal legal, lawful course of the performance of their duties. So it wouldn't just be those suspected of crimes. It could be victims, witnesses or just people who are lawfully interacting with the police officer where through the course of that contact they are able to build reasonable suspicion and therefore inquire.
So the initial contact could be anything. From there, it's all up to the totally subjective view of the police officer as to whether the person is an illegal immigrant. And for the record, illegal immigrants don't wear special hats or t-shirts indicating their illegal status.
Media Matters also compiled an array of other views of the "lawful contact" language.