(FeaturedHeadlines.com) A US District Court judge issued a ruling to temporarily block an Iowa state immigration law that would allow police to detain and deport illegal migrants. The June 17 ruling prevents Iowa from enforcing the law, which was set to take effect on July 1, pending an appeal.
The law would give the state the power to file criminal charges against illegal migrants who have outstanding deportation orders, were previously kicked out of the United States, or were otherwise blocked from entering the country. The law would grant judges the authority to let the migrants leave the US instead of facing criminal charges in the state.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said that blocking enforcement of the law leaves the state “defenseless” against the impacts of the Biden administration’s lax border policies. Iowa will experience more crime, drug-related deaths, and human trafficking as a result of such policies and the state’s inability to take matters into its own hands, Reynolds said.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said that she intends to file an appeal to the court’s ruling. However, US District Court Judge Stephen Locher said in the decision that the law is not constitutionally defensible. The state law is preempted by federal law, and as such, invalid under the US Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, Locher said.
Whereas Iowa state officials expressed disappointment with the decision, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) praised Locher’s ruling. The ACLU challenged the law alongside the American Immigration Council, which ultimately resulted in the temporary pause on enforcement.
The court was right to block enforcement of the “cruel and blatantly unconstitutional” law, American Immigration Council deputy legal director Emma Winger said in a statement. Local law enforcement officers in Iowa have said that they do not want the duty of enforcing such a law, Iowa ACLU legal director Rita Bettis Austen said.
The court’s decision leaves Iowa to bear the burden of the Biden administration’s border policies, unless the state’s appeal of the ruling proves successful.
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