Federal Appeals Court Upholds Block on Iowa’s Unconstitutional Anti-Immigrant Law

Ruling Protects Families and Upholds Constitutional Limits on State Power 

Oct 23, 2025, WASHINGTON DC — In a sweeping victory for immigrant communities and the rule of law, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit today upheld an injunction blocking Iowa’s SF 2340. This law, Iowa’s worst-ever on immigration, would have made it a crime for certain immigrants to live in Iowa, even if they are now authorized to be in the United States. 

The law would also have allowed local officials to handle arrests and deportations. This is something that they do not have power to do under the Constitution, as immigration law is handled by federal authorities in order to ensure one consistent national policy, not a patchwork of 50 different state rules that could separate families and create chaos.

“This is a tremendous relief for thousands of Iowa families,” said Erica Johnson, founding executive director of Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice (Iowa MMJ), the organization that brought the lawsuit. “The court’s decision confirms that key members of our community should never have been criminalized simply for being here and living their lives in peace. This ruling restores a sense of safety and dignity to people who call Iowa home.”

The lawsuit, Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice v. Bird, was brought by Iowa MMJ and two individual plaintiffs, represented by the ACLU of Iowa, the ACLU Immigrant Rights’ Project, and the American Immigration Council. 

SF 2340 would have made it a crime for non-citizens who had ever been deported or denied entry to the United States to live in Iowa, even if they later received lawful status or federal permission to return. The law would also empower state and local law enforcement to arrest people for their mere presence in the state, and would require state judges to issue deportation orders. Under the Constitution, these powers belong only to the federal government, to ensure that families aren’t torn apart by conflicting rules across state lines.

“SF2340 is the worst anti-immigrant law in Iowa’s history. Today’s ruling keeps SF2340 blocked and protects immigrants in Iowa from many serious harms: arrest, detention, deportation, family separation, and incarceration, all by the state. At a time when the federal government is causing so much harm to families, it’s all the more important that the state is not permitted to make things even worse. The Court reaffirmed that the Iowa legislature does not have authority to pass its own immigration laws to detain and deport people,” said Rita Bettis Austen, legal director of the ACLU of Iowa. “Immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility, and this decision protects families and ensures that our laws are applied fairly and consistently.”

The law was originally enacted on April 10, 2024 and blocked from going into effect on June 17, 2024; the state of Iowa then appealed the decision. (Review more documents in the ongoing legal case here). Due to this most recent Eighth Circuit ruling, the law will remain blocked for now as the case continues in federal court.

“The Eighth Circuit’s decision resonates far beyond Iowa,” said Emma Winger, deputy legal director at the American Immigration Council. “Across the country, we’re seeing states attempt to take immigration enforcement into their own hands. This could create a reality in which a person could be welcomed in one state and arrested in the next, just for crossing a border. Under our Constitution, immigration has to be handled at a federal level so families aren’t trapped in chaos. This ruling upholds that principle.” 

“Today the Eighth Circuit reiterated what the Supreme Court has said for over a hundred years: States have no business regulating immigration on their own,” said Spencer Amdur, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s national immigrants’ rights project. “This law would have torn families apart and denied people their right to live in this country and seek legal protections. The court was right to strike it down, just like courts have done for other laws like this around the country.”

See past documents in the lawsuit here. 

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