During the administration of former President Joseph Biden, politicians in some states grew concerned over the federal government’s position on immigration. Certain states felt that they needed to take measures to compensate for what they saw as inadequate enforcement of immigration laws. These included Iowa and Oklahoma. In April 2024, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed a law that made it a crime for a person to be in Iowa after removal or a denial of admission under immigration law. Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed a similar law a few weeks later. This prohibited remaining in Oklahoma without legal authorization. A first offense could result in up to a year in jail.
The U.S. Department of Justice quickly sued to block these laws. The federal government argued that it has comprehensive authority over immigration, so states couldn’t enact their own laws in this area. Courts paused the implementation of the state laws while considering whether they violate the U.S. Constitution. In the meantime, the Biden administration came to an end, and federal immigration policy shifted.
When he campaigned last year, President Donald Trump promised to take a tougher stance on undocumented immigrants. He’s already started to deliver on that promise with a flurry of executive orders in the first two months of his term. Thus, it wasn’t surprising when the Trump administration asked to dismiss the lawsuits against Iowa and Oklahoma last Friday.
This doesn’t necessarily spell an end to court battles over these laws. In fact, an immigrant rights organization called Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice brought a separate lawsuit against the Iowa law last year. The trial judge reviewed this case in tandem with the Department of Justice case and issued a joint order blocking the law. The litigation then reached the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
In January, the Eighth Circuit upheld the order in the Department of Justice case. However, it decided that the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice lawsuit should be dismissed because the Department of Justice case had made it moot. (The order in that case had blocked the law anyway.) This isn’t true anymore after the Department of Justice dropped its case. As a result, the Eighth Circuit might change course and revive the second lawsuit. The federal government’s policy change thus might end up having little effect on the enforceability of the Iowa law.
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