DOJ and civil rights groups sue to block Iowa’s controversial immigration law

The Justice Department and civil rights groups filed two separate lawsuits Thursday aimed at preventing a controversial immigration bill — known as SF 2340 — from taking effect in Iowa.

SF 2340 authorizes local law enforcement officials to arrest migrants who have previously been deported or removed from the country, or who have been denied entry in the past. It also gives judges the power to order that a person be returned to the country from which the person entered the United States.

The law also does not prohibit children from being charged.

The DOJ’s lawsuit comes just a week after Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton wrote a letter to Governor Kim Reynolds, obtained by ABC News, urging her to strike down the law by May 7 or face legal action.

State lawmakers passed the law last month and Governor Kim Reynolds signed it. The law is expected to come into effect on July 1.

“Iowa cannot ignore the U.S. Constitution and set a Supreme Court precedent,” Boynton said in a statement. “We took this action to ensure that Iowa adheres to the framework adopted by Congress and the Constitution for regulating immigration.”

The law is largely patterned after a similar law in Texas — Senate Bill 4, also known as SB 4 — which currently cannot go into effect while its constitutionality is determined by the courts. The Justice Department has also filed a lawsuit against that law, which allows local law enforcement to arrest migrants they suspect have entered the country illegally. Like the Iowa law, it authorizes a judge to order the removal of a person from the country.

On Thursday morning, the American Immigration Council, American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Iowa filed a separate lawsuit on behalf of the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice and two people the immigrant rights group represents.

In the lawsuit, attorneys for the group said the law does not create exceptions for people who were previously deported or denied entry but who were later allowed to stay in the country. The groups said this means that even people who have been granted asylum, are part of a protected class or have a green card can be arrested and jailed.

One story highlighted in the lawsuit is that of an 18-year-old Honduran migrant whose father was murdered and his sister kidnapped in her home country. She came to the US when she was 14 but was deported, according to the ACLU. She later returned to the US under her own power and was granted asylum.

The groups claim she would be eligible for arrest and prison under the law.
A conviction under the law would carry a prison sentence of 2 to 10 years. Some offenders could face up to five years in prison, on a Class D felony charge, if their deportation followed “a conviction for committing two or more crimes involving drugs, crimes against a person, or both,” according to the law .

Others can be charged with a class C felony and face up to 10 years in prison if previously expunged for a misdemeanor conviction. All convicts would be served with a deportation order, although some would be given the option to opt for removal rather than further prosecution.

“This ugly law is deeply damaging to Iowa families and communities. “Iowa lawmakers have knowingly targeted people who are protected by federal immigration laws and are here legally, such as people who have been granted asylum or special visas given to survivors of domestic violence or other crimes,” said Rita Bettis Austen, legal director of the ACLU of Iowa, said in a statement. “And there are many good reasons – related to foreign relations, national security, humanitarian interests, and our constitutional system – why the federal government enforces our immigration law, rather than all fifty states doing their own thing to enforce their own immigration laws.” force. separate immigration programs. It is difficult to overstate how terrible and bizarre this law is.”

In a post on X, Governor Reynolds accused President Joe Biden of refusing to enforce existing immigration laws.

“The DOJ and the ACLU are suing Lowa for protecting our citizens while Joe Biden refuses to enforce immigration laws already on the books. If he doesn’t want to stand up for the rule of law, Lowa will!” wrote the governor.