Judge blocks Iowa law allowing state authorities to arrest and deport migrants 

A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked Iowa from enforcing a state law that would allow local authorities to arrest, charge and deport migrants who were previously denied entry or deported from the US.

The Biden administration sued Iowa over the new law last month, arguing that the federal government has “exclusive authority under federal law to regulate the entry and removal of noncitizens,” and US District Court Judge Stephen Locher said the Justice Department was likely to prevail in its case when he issued the preliminary injunction. 

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

Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who signed Senate File 2340 into law in April, blasted the judge’s ruling. 

“Iowa’s legislation to deter illegal immigration has been BLOCKED – leaving us defenseless to the consequences of Biden’s Open Border,” Reynolds wrote on X.

“More crime, overdose deaths, and human trafficking. All because Biden won’t do his job!” she added.

The law, which was slated to go into effect on July 1, makes it an aggravated misdemeanor offense — punishable by up to two years in prison — for migrants to be in the Hawkeye State if they have outstanding deportation orders, were previously deported or were at one point barred from entering the US. 

The crime is elevated to a felony offense if the person’s previous removal orders were related to misdemeanor convictions for drug crimes, crimes against people or any type of felony conviction. 

Under the legislation, police are barred from arresting suspected migrants in violation of the law at places of worship, schools or medical facilities. 

Arrested individuals may be allowed by a judge to leave the country and not face charges, according to the law’s text. 

Biden’s Justice Department has sued Texas and Oklahoma over similar measures. 

Texas’ more expansive law, which authorizes state authorities to arrest, jail, prosecute and deport migrants who enter the country between ports of entry, was put on hold by a federal appeals court’s three-judge panel in March. 

The DOJ is seeking to block Oklahoma’s law, which makes it a crime to enter Oklahoma without legal authorization to be in the US, as well. 

Iowa’s Republican top prosecutor said the state would appeal the preliminary injunction. 

“Since Biden refuses to secure our border, he has left states with no choice but to do the job for him,” Attorney General Brenna Bird wrote on X.

“I will be appealing the court’s decision today that blocks IA from stopping illegal reentry and keeping our communities safe,” she added.