Republicans Handed New Immigration Legal Loss

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds is pictured during an event in Council Bluffs, Iowa on January 13, 2024. Reynolds on Monday denounced a federal judge's decision to temporarily block a state immigration law.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked Iowa Republicans from enforcing a new law that would have allowed state officials to deport migrants who had previously been denied U.S. entry.

Iowa is among several Republican-led states that have recently attempted to take control of immigration law amid a political battle over the issue as this year's election rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump fast approaches.

The new law, which was passed by Iowa's GOP-controlled legislature and signed by Republican Governor Kim Reynolds in April, would have made it a crime for migrants with pending deportation orders or past entry denials to be present in the state beginning on July 1. Migrants would have been left with the choice of leaving the country or facing potential prison time.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher issued a preliminary injunction blocking the law from taking effect, writing in the decision that although the measure "might be defensible" as "a matter of politics," it will not stand "as a matter of constitutional law," according to the Associated Press.

Locher, a Biden appointee, granted the injunction after the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against Iowa over the law last month. The judge predicted that the DOJ would likely succeed in its argument that the U.S. Constitution and federal immigration law supersedes state law.

Newsweek reached out for comment to the DOJ via online press contact form on Monday might.

Republican Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird denounced the decision in a statement on Monday, vowing to appeal the ruling while arguing that "Iowa never would have had to pass this law to begin with if it weren't for Biden's open borders."

Reynolds also denounced Locher's decision in a statement, with the Republican governor citing the "ongoing crisis" at the U.S.-Mexico border as a threat to Iowa despite the border being well over 1,000 miles from her state.

"With this injunction states are left defenseless to the ongoing crisis at our southern border," Reynolds said. "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."

"I 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," she added. "I support Attorney General Bird in appealing this decision."

The DOJ lawsuit argues that "Iowa cannot create its own immigration system," pointing out that the federal government has "exclusive authority to regulate the entry and removal of noncitizens."

The suit also notes that the Iowa statute does not include any exceptions for migrants who are currently in the country legally after previously having been denied entry.

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