The Most Extreme Anti-Immigration Bill We've Seen

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit today upheld a temporary block on SF 2340, Iowa's worst-ever immigration law. The Iowa law was passed during the 2024 Iowa legislative session and was temporarily blocked by the courts just weeks after. It conflicts with federal law and would have a number of dramatic consequences for Iowans. It creates new crimes for anyone in Iowa, including a child, who has reentered the country after being deported — even if that person is now authorized to be in the U.S. The appeals court agreed with the federal district court that the law is unconstitutional and that every part of the law should remain blocked while litigation continues. The court was considering two lawsuits asking that SF 2340 be declared unconstitutional and blocked. One was by the U.S. Department of Justice; the other was by the American Immigration Council, the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, and the national ACLU on behalf of Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice and the thousands of immigrants that the organization assists, including two individual Iowans. Emma Winger, deputy legal director at the American Immigration Council, said, “Across the country right now, immigrant families are living in fear. Thankfully, for now, communities in Iowa don't have to worry about this cruel law, which would have subjected even some people living lawfully in the U.S. to arrest and deportation. Concerningly, states across the country are still working to pass harsh anti-immigrant laws that would completely upend the balance of power between states and the federal government in immigration enforcement. Empowering individual states to run our immigration laws is unconstitutional and throws our immigration system deeper into chaos." Erica Johnson, founding executive director of Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice (Iowa MMJ) said, "This incredibly inhumane law would put lives and families at risk. It would take people — including mere children — who have been living here peacefully and contributing to their communities, sometimes for decades, and sets them up for deportation. It doesn’t matter if they now have authorization to be here. They can still be put in prison or deported at the border, often thousands of miles away from their home country. We need laws that create workable, orderly, humane immigration systems. SF 2340 does just the opposite." Spencer Amdur, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said, "This decision affirms what courts around the country have made clear: States have no business regulating immigration, and they cannot take away the rights that immigrants have under federal law, including the right to seek asylum. We will keep fighting these laws in Iowa and other states that try to set up their own immigration schemes." ACLU of Iowa Legal Director Rita Bettis Austen said, "SF 2340 is the worst anti-immigrant legislation in Iowa’s history. This extremely harmful law has exposed people with lawful status, and even children, to serious harm — arrest, detention, deportation, family separation, and incarceration, by the state. The manner in which the state has targeted even those with legal status only reaffirms that the federal government, and not individual states, should enforce immigration law. Today’s decision by the Eighth Circuit means that, for the time being, SF 2340 remains blocked and Iowans do not have to fear being subject to this unconstitutional law. We are glad the court has left the injunction in place protecting immigrant families and will continue to work to protect the rights of all immigrants in Iowa." The ruling can be found here.

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice’s memo threatening local officials with criminal prosecution for refusing to carry out the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda is legally baseless and harmful to our communities, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote in a memo and public letter to Acting Attorney General James McHenry released today. “The Constitution and our laws are clear: The federal government cannot bully state officials into carrying out deportations, nor can they punish them for declining,” said Deirdre Schifeling, ACLU chief political and advocacy officer. “We understand that checks and balances, including the authority of states to direct the use of their resources, may be frustrating to the president. Nevertheless, the Department and this administration are bound by the Constitution. State and local governments cannot be compelled to carry out the Trump administration's political agenda of sowing fear and division in our communities.” “Local collaboration with ICE also drives immigrant communities into the shadows and makes everyone less safe. Where local officials are seen to be agents of ICE, people in mixed-status families do not feel safe going to school, seeking medical care, or talking to the police. As law enforcement officials across the country have made clear, it is critical to keep local functions separate from immigration enforcement,” the memo reads. The memo further highlights that the Tenth Amendment and Supreme Court precedent affirm that the federal government cannot compel the states to enforce federal law. Moreover, it details that courts have specifically addressed ICE’s requests for deportation assistance and have held that these requests are and must be voluntary, and that ICE itself has repeatedly admitted that its requests are not mandatory. “[S]tate and local officials cannot validly be prosecuted for devoting their resources to local needs rather than ICE’s deportation machine. ICE remains free to operate anywhere in the country; that does not change just because a State declines to lend its own resources. But ICE cannot forcibly expand its personnel by conscripting local police into its service,” the memo continues. The letter and memo are here: https://www.aclu.org/documents/aclu-letter-and-memo-on-the-trump-administrations-legally-baseless-threats-against-state-and-local-officials

WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of the District of Columbia, and the New York Civil Liberties Union today sued the Trump administration over its plan to massively expand fast-track deportations without a fair legal process. The case was filed on behalf of Make the Road New York, which serves immigrant communities. The expanded expedited removal rule was announced yesterday, and mimics a similar policy pushed by the first Trump administration, which the ACLU and Make the Road New York also challenged. “The Trump administration wants to use this illegal policy to fuel its mass deportation agenda and rip communities apart. Expanding expedited removal would give Trump a cheat code to circumvent due process and the Constitution, and we are again here to fight it,” said Anand Balakrishnan, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project and lead counsel on this case. “People living in communities all across the United States are at risk of being separated from their families and expelled from the country with no legal recourse. This is an attack on communities, our Constitution, and fundamental American values,” he adds. The policy targets immigrants nationwide who cannot prove they have been in the country continuously for two years or more. Due process requires they get a fair hearing, which this rule strips from them. Under this rule, immigrants who have been integrated into and contribute to our communities would get less due process contesting their deportation than they would contesting a traffic ticket. The lawsuit cites violations of the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act. “Everyone in this country is entitled to due process — it is one of the core tenets of our government. To fast track the deportation of people who have entered this country to find safety and build a life for themselves and their families, without even a chance to see a judge, will only sow fear in immigrant communities and increase the terror of being separated from loved ones forever. The strategy of the Trump administration seems to be to bombard immigrants and their allies with heinous policies so as to overwhelm — we will not let this happen. We are prepared to fight back against this illegal policy and to uphold the rule of law,” said Arlenis Morel, co-executive director of Make the Road New York. “President Trump’s decision to fast track deportations is chaotic, unfair, and inhumane. We hope the courts will order President Trump to do his constitutional duty to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,’” said Arthur Spitzer, senior counsel at the ACLU of the District of Columbia. “President Trump’s draconian decision to fast track mass deportations violates hundreds of thousands’ fundamental right to a fair day in court,” said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. “This cruel, extremist effort will undoubtedly leave children without parents, families without their breadwinners, businesses without workers, and immigrant communities in shambles. Immigrants deserve sensible, humane policies that carve fair pathways to citizenship — not Trump making horrendous, illegal attacks on their communities.” The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. The complaint is here: https://www.aclu.org/cases/make-the-road-new-york-v-benjamine-huffman?document=Complaint