Des Moines, Iowa — The Iowa House has sent the governor a bill giving state and local law enforcement officers authority to arrest undocumented immigrants and have them deported.
The vote came two hours after the US Supreme Court allowed a similar Texas law to take effect — at least temporarily — while an appeals court reviews the policy. Republican Representative Steven Holt of Denison says Iowa must act because the federal government isn’t doing its job.
Holt says the bill pushes the envelope when it comes to state authority to enforce immigration law, but he says that’s what is required to address a clear and present danger.
The bill passed with the support of nearly all Republicans and a couple of Democrats in the House. Representative Sami Scheetz, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, says this bill may put the state in a legal quagmire because immigration policy is constitutionally reserved for the federal government.
Governor Reynolds says the Biden Administration has failed to enforce immigration laws and she looks forward to signing the bill into law.
