Legal News: Federal Judge Grants Injunction on State Illegal Immigration Law

June 17, 2024 | Immigration

U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher granted a motion for a preliminary injunction in Iowa, preventing the new late which would impose state criminal penalties on undocumented immigrants from going into effect. The Court held that the "illegal reentry" law, which had been signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds in April,  was unconstitutional and cannot be enforced.

Senate File 2340, which had been modeled after a similar law in Texas, made it a state offense for people to enter Iowa after they had been deported from or denied entry to the United States. The law made failing to depart the country after being ordered to do so a state offense as well. Locher wrote that the law omitted key safeguards for noncitizens navigating the U.S. immigration system and that the law was preempted in its entirety by federal law, making it invalid under the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution. The Supremacy Clause holds that federal laws, treaties, and regulations take precedent over any conflicting state laws, writing that the Senate File 2340 "creates an untenable dichotomy between federal and state law in an area where the Supreme Court has recognized that the United States must speak with a single, harmonious voice." 

Read more about the ruling here or read the ruling itself here.

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