Iowa has joined Texas in empowering state law enforcement to do the job the Biden Administration has refused to do: arrest and remove illegal aliens.
On Wednesday, amid the unfettered surge of illegal aliens into the U.S., Republican Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed into law SF 2340, which mirrors a Texas law currently being held up and challenged in court by the Biden Administration.
Iowa’s new law is necessary in order to protect the safety of the state’s residents from the dangers of Pres. Joe Biden’s open-border polices, Gov. Reynolds explained in a statement:
“The Biden Administration has failed to enforce our nation’s immigration laws, putting the protection and safety of Iowans at risk. Those who come into our country illegally have broken the law, yet Biden refuses to deport them.
“This bill gives Iowa law enforcement the power to do what he is unwilling to do: enforce immigration laws already on the books.”
While the U.S. Constitution generally delegates immigration enforcement to the federal government, it does provide exceptions. One exception allows each individual state to defend itself from invasion, as Heartland Institute’s Justin Haskins explains:
“In Article One, Section 10, the Constitution declares, ‘No State shall, without the Consent of Congress...engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.’"
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“Today's pundits, legislators, and voters might disagree about what constitutes an ‘invasion,’ but in the era of the Founding Fathers, when that clause of the Constitution was written, the word had a clearer meaning. To the Founders, an "invasion" referred to any unauthorized entry that includes even a slight degree of hostility.”
Iowa’s law makes illegal entry a state crime and provides for both the imprisonment and deportation of offending illegal aliens, The Daily Wire reports:
“Under the new state law, an immigrant could be guilty of a Class C felony and face up to 10 years in prison for illegally entering the country if he/she was arrested for committing another felony. The law also requires Iowa judges to submit an order for a person convicted of illegally entering the U.S. to be returned to their home country.”
Iowa’s SF 2340 is scheduled to take effect on July 1. But, given the Biden Administration’s obdurate legal efforts to thwart, not only Texas’ efforts to secure its border by erecting barriers, but also its enforcement of immigration law, it appears destined to be challenged in court.