The Trump administration on Friday withdrew lawsuits filed by the Biden-era Department of Justice (DOJ) against Iowa and Oklahoma over their immigration laws. These laws made it a state crime for anyone to remain in the state if they were in the US illegally.
Republican leaders in Iowa and Oklahoma argued that their states had to take action because the Biden administration had failed to control the southern border. Their laws allowed state and local officials to arrest people with outstanding deportation orders or those previously denied entry into the US. The laws were modeled after a similar measure in Texas.
The Biden administration sued Texas, Iowa, and Oklahoma, claiming that immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility. Texas’ law was briefly in effect before being halted by a federal court, while the Iowa and Oklahoma laws had been on hold pending legal review.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond welcomed the dismissal, blaming the Biden administration for failing on border security. “The White House’s negligence made our state law necessary,” Drummond said.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird called the decision a “major victory” for Iowa. “President Trump once again proved he has Iowa’s back by dropping Biden’s ridiculous lawsuit,” she said.
Despite the DOJ’s withdrawal, immigrant rights groups continue to fight the Iowa law. The Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice filed a lawsuit against the state, but a recent federal appeals court ruling complicated their case. The court argued that the Biden administration’s lawsuit against Iowa had made the separate immigrant rights lawsuit moot.
Rita Bettis Austen of the ACLU of Iowa vowed to keep fighting the law. “We remain committed to preventing this harmful law from taking effect,” she said.
Trump campaigned on a promise to tighten immigration laws and deport those in the US illegally. In his first week as president, he signed executive orders to enforce these policies, which clashed with the previous administration’s legal stance in the two cases.
