Immigrant advocacy organizations hosted a rally on the terrace of the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines May 1, 2024 in opposition to the Iowa law making illegal immigration a state crime. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
A U.S. federal appeals court has upheld the injunction blocking enforcement of an Iowa law that makes illegal immigration a state crime.
The Friday decision denied an appeal from Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, seeking to allow enforcement to begin after U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher ruled in June to block the law. The measure, Senate File 2340, allows state law enforcement officers to arrest and charge immigrants with an aggravated misdemeanor if they have been previously deported, removed or denied admission from the country, in addition to allowing judges to order a person found guilty to leave the country or face prison time.
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals heard two cases challenging the law — one from the U.S. Department of Justice filed during former President Joe Biden’s administration and another by a coalition of civil and immigration rights groups including the American Immigration Council and the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa.
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Both cases argued that the state law is unconstitutional, as immigration law and enforcement is under the federal government’s authority. While attorneys representing the state argued the Iowa law does not infringe on federal authority because it does not contain new rules on immigration, Locher sided with plaintiffs in the case, stating the measure was “preempted in its entirety by federal law.”
In the federal appeals court decision, Circuit Judge Duane Benton wrote that the bill is unconstitutional under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states that the constitution, federal laws and treaties take precedent over conflicting state laws.
“Even assuming Iowa possesses an inherent and traditional power to exclude, Iowa’s Act still violates the Supremacy Clause if it clearly conflicts with federal law,” he said, writing “there is no absence of legislation from Congress” on immigration.
ACLU of Iowa Legal Director Rita Bettis Austen called the law “the worst anti-immigrant legislation in Iowa’s history,” saying she was glad to see the court’s decision blocking enforcement.
“This extremely harmful law has exposed people with lawful status, and even children, to serious harm — arrest, detention, deportation, family separation, and incarceration, by the state,” Austen wrote in a news release. “The manner in which the state has targeted even those with legal status only reaffirms that the federal government, and not individual states, should enforce immigration law.”
The decision comes days after President Donald Trump took office. In addition to multiple executive orders Trump has signed related to immigration since his inauguration Monday, immigrant advocates are expecting the GOP majorities in both chambers of Congress to work with Trump to pass harsher immigration laws and actions impacting undocumented immigrants.
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Emma Winger, deputy legal director at the American Immigration Council, said the appeals court decision was a positive highlight during a difficult time for immigrant communities across the country.
“Across the country right now, immigrant families are living in fear,” Winger said in a statement. “Thankfully, for now, communities in Iowa don’t have to worry about this cruel law, which would have subjected even some people living lawfully in the U.S. to arrest and deportation.”
The U.S. Department of Justice could drop the lawsuit challenging Iowa’s law; the department did not immediately comment on the U.S. Court of Appeals decision.
Bird said in a statement that “the battle is far from over” on the immigration law.
“Iowa stood strong against the Biden-Harris border invasion that made every state a border state,” Bird said in a statement. “… As President Trump works nationally to fix the mess Biden and Harris created on the southern border, we will continue fighting in Iowa to defend our laws and keep families safe.”
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