DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) 鈥� The Trump administration on Friday moved to dismiss lawsuits against and brought by the Biden administration鈥檚 Department of Justice, which challenged the states' immigration laws making it a crime for someone to be in the state if they are in the U.S. illegally.
Republican governors and lawmakers across the country had accused then-President Joe Biden of failing to enforce federal immigration law and manage the southern border.
In response, Iowa and Oklahoma enacted similar laws that let state and local officials arrest and charge people who have outstanding deportation orders or who previously were removed from or denied admission to the U.S. Both laws followed one enacted in Texas.
The Biden administration sued Texas, Iowa and Oklahoma over the respective laws. Texas' more expansive law was in effect for last March before a federal appeals court put it on hold.
The Iowa and Oklahoma laws have themselves been on hold while courts consider whether they unconstitutionally usurp federal immigration authority.
鈥淭he Biden administration's absurd opposition to (Oklahoma's law) was particularly frustrating since it was the White House's gross negligence on border security that had made the state law so necessary in the first place,鈥� Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a statement on Friday.
Trump ran for office on a pledge to crack down on illegal immigration and deport many who are living in the U.S. illegally, promises he acted on with during his first week in office that conflicted with the prior administration's legal position in the two cases.
An immigrant rights group also sued Iowa last May over its law, but the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals recently issued a that complicates the legal battle now that the Trump administration has withdrawn the federal government鈥檚 complaint.
The appellate court said the lawsuit filed by Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice should be dismissed by the district court judge, arguing the U.S. v. Iowa lawsuit made it moot. Rita Bettis Austin, the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, said in a statement Friday they intended to continue fighting to keep Iowa's law from taking effect.
鈥淲ith today's DOJ filing, we remain steadfast in our commitment to working to keep this harmful law from being enforced in Iowa,鈥� Austin said.
Lawyers representing Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice in February filed a petition for rehearing with the appellate court.
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Associated Press reporter Sean Murphy contributed to this report from Oklahoma City.
Hannah Fingerhut, The Associated Press
