The Justice Department sued Iowa on Thursday over a recent law that prohibits people from remaining in the state if they were previously denied entry into the United States.
Iowa Senate File 2340 makes it a crime for a person to be in Iowa if they have previously been removed from the U.S. or have pending deportation orders.
“Iowa cannot disregard the U.S. Constitution and the precedent set by the Supreme Court,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.
“We initiated this action to ensure that Iowa complies with the framework adopted by Congress and the Constitution for regulating immigration.”
The lawsuit comes after the Justice Department warned Iowa last week that it would initiate litigation if the state implemented the law, noting that the Supreme Court previously ruled that only the federal government has the power to enforce immigration laws.
Boynton said the law “effectively creates a separate state immigration scheme” that “intrudes into a field that is occupied by the federal government and is superseded.”
The Iowa Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Iowa law follows the passage of a similar law in Texas, which gave local authorities the power to effectively enforce immigration duties and deport those considered migrants to Mexico, regardless of their country of origin.
The DOJ also sued over this law, which has been suspended while litigation continues.
The Justice Department’s lawsuit followed one filed on Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the American Immigration Council.
“This horrible law is deeply harmful to Iowa families and communities. Iowa lawmakers knowingly targeted people who are protected by federal immigration laws and who are legally permitted to be here, such as people who have been granted asylum or special visas granted to survivors of domestic violence or other crimes,” the ACLU said in a statement.
“And there are many good reasons – related to foreign affairs, national security, humanitarian interests and our constitutional system – why the federal government enforces our immigration law, rather than all 50 states going out and doing what they want. they want to impose their own law. separate immigration schemes. It’s hard to overstate how terrible and bizarre this law is.”
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) previously advocated for the state’s passage of the law.
“The only reason we had to pass this law is because the Biden administration refuses to enforce laws already in place,” Reynolds said in a statement.post on social platformlast week.
“I have a duty to protect Iowans. Unlike the federal government, we will respect the rule of law and enforce it.”
The Justice Department has had initial success in its litigation over other laws and practices that it considers a challenge to federal authority.
The DOJ also sued Texas after it placed large buoys in the Rio Grande to block migrants crossing the river, and the department also challenged Texas’ placement of barbed wire along the border, arguing that it interfered with US immigration agents. USA in carrying out its work.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
