Federal judge temporarily blocks Iowa's 'illegal reentry' immigration law

A federal judge ruled Monday that Iowa’s immigration law making “illegal reentry” a state crime cannot be enforced because it is unconstitutional and conflicts with U.S. immigration laws.

The law, approved earlier this year by Republicans in the Iowa Legislature, was scheduled to take effect July 1. It would allow state and local law enforcement to arrest immigrants who were previously deported or denied entry to the U.S. State courts would order them to leave the country.

The U.S. Department of Justice and migrant rights groups filed two separate lawsuits in May seeking to block the law from being enforced.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher granted their requests for a preliminary injunction, putting the law on hold pending further court proceedings. He wrote in his ruling that Iowa’s law is preempted by federal law and is invalid under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

“As a matter of politics, the new legislation might be defensible,” Locher wrote. “As a matter of constitutional law, it is not.”

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said she will appeal the decision.

“I am disappointed in today’s court decision that blocks Iowa from stopping illegal reentry and keeping our communities safe,” she said. “Since Biden refuses to secure our borders, he has left states with no choice but to do the job for him.”

Emma Winger, deputy legal director with the American Immigration Council, argued for the injunction in court on behalf of Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice. She said state immigration laws like Iowa's have no place in the legal system.

“The court was right to block this cruel and blatantly unconstitutional law,” she said in a statement Monday. “If it had been allowed to go into effect, it would have meant that even people currently living in the U.S. lawfully could have been arrested, imprisoned and forced to leave the country.”

During a hearing last week , the state argued immigrants with permanent legal status would not be affected.

Judge Locher disagreed. Having permanent legal status is a defense against prosecution under federal law, he wrote, but not under Iowa’s immigration enforcement law.

“Meaning: the State of Iowa can arrest them and put them in jail for something the United States has given them permission to do,” he wrote. “This is untenable.”

Gov. Kim Reynolds said the injunction leaves states “defenseless to the ongoing crisis at our southern border.”

“Plainly, the Biden administration is failing to do their job and enforce federal immigration laws, allowing millions to enter and re-enter without any consequence or delay,” she said.

President Joe Biden recently issued an executive order to deny asylum claims for most migrants who cross the southern border without permission.

The state’s appeal of Monday’s decision could take months to play out.

A federal appeals court in a different jurisdiction is considering whether it should continue blocking a similar law in Texas. The Texas law was passed in 2023 and was allowed to go into effect for just a few hours in March before being blocked again.