DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) 鈥� A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked that would have allowed law enforcement in the state to file criminal charges against people with outstanding deportation orders or who previously had been denied entry to the U.S.
U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Locher issued a preliminary injunction because he said the U.S. Department of Justice and civil rights groups were likely to succeed in their argument that federal immigration law preempted the law approved this spring by Iowa lawmakers. He stopped enforcement of the law 鈥減ending further proceedings.鈥�
鈥淎s a matter of politics, the new legislation might be defensible,鈥� Locher wrote in his decision. 鈥淎s a matter of constitutional law, it is not.鈥�
The Iowa law, which was set to take effect July 1, would let law enforcement file charges to be brought against people who have outstanding deportation orders or who previously have been removed from or denied admission to the U.S. Once in custody, migrants could either agree to a judge鈥檚 order to leave the U.S. or be prosecuted, potentially facing time in prison before deportation.
In approving the law, Iowa鈥檚 Republican-majority Legislature and Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds said they took the action because the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden wasn鈥檛 effective in along the nation鈥檚 southern border.
In arguments last week before Locher, the state said the Iowa law would only enable state law enforcement and courts to apply federal law, not create new law. Federal authorities determine who violates U.S. immigration law, Patrick Valencia, Iowa鈥檚 deputy solicitor general, had argued, but once that is determined, the person also was in violation of state law.
鈥淲e have a law that adopts the federal standard,鈥� Valencia said.
However, the federal government and civil rights groups said the Iowa law violated the federal government鈥檚 sole authority over immigration matters and would create a host of problems and confusion.
Christopher Eiswerth, a DOJ attorney, and Emma Winger, representing the American Immigration Council, said the new Iowa law didn鈥檛 make an exception for people who had once been deported but now were in the country legally, including those seeking asylum.
The law is similar but less expansive than a Texas law, which was in effect for in March before it was put on hold by a federal appeals court鈥檚 three-judge panel.
The Justice Department has also announced it would seek to stop a .
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said in statement that she would appeal the judge鈥檚 decision.
鈥淚 am disappointed in today鈥檚 court decision that blocks Iowa from stopping illegal reentry and keeping our communities safe,鈥� Bird said. 鈥淪ince Biden refuses to secure our borders, he has left states with no choice but to do the job for him.鈥�
Reynolds issued a statement that also expressed frustration at the judge鈥檚 ruling and criticized Biden.
鈥淚 signed this bill into law to protect Iowans and our communities from the results of this border crisis: rising crime, overdose deaths, and human trafficking,鈥� Reynolds said.
Rita Bettis Austen, legal director of the ACLU of Iowa, one of the organizations that filed the lawsuit, praised the judge's decision, saying the law dumped a federal responsibility onto local law enforcement that wasn't prepared to take on the role.
Bettis Austen called the law 鈥渁mong the worst anti-immigrant legislation in Iowa鈥檚 history,鈥� adding that it 鈥渆xposed even lawful immigrants, and even children, to serious harms 鈥� arrest, detention, deportation, family separation, and incarceration, by the state.鈥�
Scott Mcfetridge, The Associated Press
