By HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The federal government administration on Friday moved to dismiss lawsuits against Iowa and Oklahoma brought by the previous administration’s Department of Justice, which challenged the states’ immigration laws making it a locally enforceable crime for someone to be in the state if they are in the U.S. illegally.
Republican governors and lawmakers across the country had accused then-President Joe Biden of failing to enforce federal immigration law and manage the southern border.
In response, Iowa and Oklahoma enacted similar laws that let state and local officials to take on what is typically a federal department’s role to arrest and charge people who have outstanding deportation orders or who previously were removed from or denied admission to the U.S. Both laws followed one enacted in Texas.
The Biden administration sued Texas, Iowa, and Oklahoma over the respective laws. Texas’ more expansive law was in effect for only a few confusing hours last March before a federal appeals court put it on hold.
The Iowa and Oklahoma laws have themselves been on hold while courts consider whether they unconstitutionally usurp federal immigration authority.
An immigrant rights group also sued Iowa last May over its law, but the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals recently issued a decision that complicates the legal battle now that the latest administration has withdrawn the federal government’s complaint.
The appellate court said the lawsuit filed by Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice should be dismissed by the district court judge, arguing the U.S. v. Iowa lawsuit made it moot. Rita Bettis Austin, the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, said in a statement on Friday that they intended to continue fighting to keep Iowa’s law from taking effect.
“With today’s DOJ filing, we remain steadfast in our commitment to working to keep this harmful law from being enforced in Iowa,” Austin said.
Lawyers representing Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice in February filed a petition for rehearing with the appellate court.
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Associated Press reporter Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City contributed.
