The US Department of Justice and civil rights groups filed two lawsuits Thursday to block enforcement of a new Iowa law that would let state officials arrest and deport immigrants who are in Iowa after previously being deported or denied entry to the country.
The law is supposed to take effect July 1, but the DOJ and civil rights groups are asking a federal court to permanently bar Iowa officials from enforcing it. They argue the law violates the US Constitution because only the federal government has the authority to enforce immigration laws.
“Iowa cannot disregard the US Constitution and settled Supreme Court precedent,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the DOJ’s civil division. “We have brought this action to ensure that Iowa adheres to the framework adopted by Congress and the Constitution for regulation of immigration.”
The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Iowa, and the American Immigration Council filed a separate lawsuit earlier Thursday on behalf of the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice and two immigrants using pseudonyms.
ACLU of Iowa Legal Director Rita Bettis Austen said it’s important to have one federal immigration system instead of 50 separate systems.
“SF2340 conflicts with federal immigration law in ways that are very harmful to immigrants in Iowa,” she said. “For example, it criminalizes people who do have legal authority to be present in our country, and in our state, but have been removed in the past.”
Bettis Austen said the law would subject people to arrest and deportation even if they were granted asylum, had a special visa for crime victims, or were children when they were deported and re-entered the country with their families.
Gov. Kim Reynolds responded on the social media site.
“The DOJ and ACLU are suing Iowa for