One of the most dominant national news stories over the last few years has been the seemingly unrelenting tide of illegal immigration across the southern border of the United States. The federal government has shown a remarkable unwillingness to secure the border and a failure to fulfill its fundamental duty to secure and defend our country.
To start to fill the void left by the federal government’s inaction, a Senate committee voted out a bill that makes it a crime at the state level to be in this country illegally. It empowers Iowa law enforcement and the judicial system to enforce immigration law and order the return of an individual in America illegally.
This bill does not allow illegal immigrants to be arrested at a school, church, health care facility, or in a location providing an examination for sexual assault. It does provide for immunity from a federal cause of action by local governments enforcing this law.
SF 2211 should not be necessary, but because of the federal government’s dereliction of duty, states are being forced to fill in the gaps. Texas specifically has been forced to act as immigration enforcement because of the incentives created by the Biden Administration’s policies. Governor Reynolds has sent law enforcement and National Guard members to Texas multiple times in order to assist them with the job of securing the southern border.
The crisis at the southern border has left a humanitarian disaster across North America. Cartels control large swaths of northern Mexico. Smugglers and human traffickers rob, rape, and murder immigrants trying to enter the United States. Large cities all over the country are overwhelmed with the massive surge of immigrants. An unsecure border is also the prime method drug dealers use to spread deadly fentanyl across the country, killing tens of thousands of Americans each year. Terrorists sneak across the border and undermine the security of our country.
The Iowa Senate cannot single-handedly solve the crisis of illegal immigration. Enforcement of our immigration laws by the Iowa Judicial system is one thing we can do. This policy, in addition to things already done in this state like banning sanctuary cities, deploying law enforcement to the border, and reducing incentives to be in the country illegally is an example for other states and the nation on how to secure the border.
