Biden administration, civil groups sue Iowa over immigrant arrest law
Source: Reuters
May 9, 2024 5:19 PM EDT Updated 11 hours ago
May 9 (Reuters) - The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking to block an Iowa law authorizing the arrest and prosecution of people who have returned to the U.S. after being deported, as a growing number of Republican-led states consider similar proposals.
The complaint filed in Des Moines, Iowa, federal court by the U.S. Department of Justice claims that the law known as S.F. 2340 unlawfully interferes with the federal government's ability to enforce U.S. immigration law.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other civil rights groups filed a similar lawsuit in the same court earlier on Thursday. The Biden administration and the ACLU have made the same argument in lawsuits challenging a similar Texas law that has served as a model for Republican lawmakers across the country who say President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has failed to address a recent increase in illegal border crossings.
Iowa's law makes "illegal reentry" into the state a crime punishable by up to two years in prison and authorizes state judges to order that individuals return to their home countries after serving sentences. The lawsuits filed on Thursday say S.F. 2340 clashes with the system created by federal law for deporting people who are in the country illegally.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-civil-rights-groups-sue-iowa-over-immigrant-arrest-law-2024-05-09/