Justice Department Threatens Iowa Over State's Immigration Law

On Thursday, a "top official" at the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) wrote to Iowa's Governor Kim Reynolds and Iowa's Attorney General Brenna Bird threatening the state with legal action over Iowa's new law dealing with illegal immigration. Iowa's response has been, in effect, to tell the DOJ that they will not comply.

The U.S. Department of Justice will sue Iowa to block a new immigration law criminalizing "illegal reentry" if it remains in effect, a top DOJ official wrote to Gov. Kim Reynolds and Attorney General Brenna Bird Thursday.
In a letter obtained by the Des Moines Register, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton wrote that the department "intends to bring a lawsuit to enforce the supremacy of federal law and to enjoin" the new immigration law passed as Senate File 2340.
"SF 2340 is preempted by federal law and violates the United States Constitution," Boynton wrote.
He gave the state a deadline of May 7 to suspend enforcement of the law before the DOJ takes action.

The Republican governor laid out the reasons Iowa passed the law, and stated that the state will continue to enforce it:

Reynolds retorted that Iowa needed the law because of the Biden administration's poor record on immigration.
"The only reason we had to pass this law is because the Biden administration refuses to enforce the laws already on the books," Reynolds said in a statement provided to the Register. "I have a duty to protect the citizens of Iowa. Unlike the federal government, we will respect the rule of law and enforce it."

Iowa's Attorney General, also a Republican, responded quickly and emphatically:

The attorney general said in a statement that "Iowa will not back down."
"Not only has Biden refused to enforce federal immigration laws and secure our border, he is now threatening to block states like Iowa from enforcing our own laws," Bird said. "Our message to Biden is this: Iowa will not back down and stand by as our state’s safety hangs in the balance. If Biden refuses to stop the border invasion and keep our communities safe, Iowa will do the job for him."

All this boils down to this: Iowa is telling the Justice Department where to head in. Illegal immigration is a serious issue - perhaps the serious issue - facing the nation now, and the Biden administration is bending every effort to not take it seriously, except when they are insulting Japan, the best ally the United States has in the Pacific, over the same issue.

Japanese Politicians Roast Biden on Immigration 'Failures' After Biden Calls Japan 'Xenophobic'

I know Iowans. I grew up in Iowa. Both sides of my family have lived and farmed in Iowa since the mid-19th century. Two of our four kids live in Iowa now. Iowans tend to be no-nonsense people who are good at looking at a situation, figuring out what needs to be done, and doing it. That is clearly what the Iowa state legislature and Governor Reynolds have done, in stepping in to do the job that the Biden administration refuses to do, as several states have done before them.

None of this would be an issue - none of this would be necessary - if the federal government was enforcing federal immigration laws that are already on the books. The only reason those laws are not being enforced is because it is the policy of the Biden administration to not enforce them. The Executive enforces laws; that's in the Constitution. The Biden administration has failed.

And now several states have, out of frustration, taken matters into their own hands.

It will be roundly interesting to see how these court cases play out - and it will be interesting indeed to see how this affects the election in November.