A federal appeals court will decide whether Iowa’s immigration law making illegal reentry of previously removed or excluded immigrants a state crime will stand.
The attorney general’s office argued in court Thursday that Iowa should be allowed to enforce its law, and that it could do so in a way that doesn’t conflict with federal law.
American Immigration Council Deputy Legal Director Emma Winger said there’s no way it can be enforced without violating the constitution. Winger added that some immigrants with permanent legal status could be prosecuted under Iowa’s law.
“There’s nothing that truly protects our clients from arrest, prosecution, imprisonment and then orders to leave the country other than a federal court order. And that’s of course what we’re asking for,” she said.
The federal appeals court could take several months to decide if Iowa’s illegal reentry law can be enforced. Winger says the U.S. Supreme Court could eventually consider these issues, but it may be another state’s similar immigration law that gets heard at the highest level.
*Additionally, there has been a surprising turnabout for a Sioux City social agency.
The Warming Shelter in Sioux City, which planned to close on October 1 due to financial difficulties, will now stay open.
Shayla Moore, the Executive Director of the Warming Shelter, on Friday said the nonprofit in recent days got enough money to operate this winter and for the next several years.
“We're all just so grateful to know that that there are people out there that support us and that people that don't know about us are now, you know, willing to learn and come visit and see what we do,” Moore said.
The Warming Shelter opened in 2013 in downtown Sioux City, but earlier this year, shelter officials aired a need for more financial support. Warming Shelter officials in early September said they would close at the end of the month.
The last few weeks of September have been a whirlwind of people attempting to raise money to keep The Warming Shelter. The Sioux City Council at the beginning of this week approved $150,000 for the shelter, to be delivered in February 2025.
The last several years have shown there are just under 300 unhoused people in Sioux City. Over 11 years, more than 150,000 nights of shelter were provided, plus other resources for unhoused people.
Moore says the shelter plans to work closely with local agencies to help the unhoused transition into permanent housing.
*In other news, harvest season is underway in the tri-state region, with many farmers out with equipment to bring in crops off their land.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig this week gave an update on crop conditions and the harvesting progress.
Naig said rain last weekend slowed progress for combining, although the warmer and drier outlook for early October should provide an excellent harvesting window for many farmers.”
Topsoil moisture condition rated 41 percent short and 49 percent adequate. The driest conditions are in western and eastern Iowa.
The amount of corn for grain harvested reached 5 percent of the amount planted for the year, which is five days behind last year, but equal to the historical average.
Soybean harvested reached 9 percent this week, equal to last year, but one day ahead of the average. Soybean condition was 78 percent good to excellent.
*Additionally, two deaths from West Nile Virus have been reported this week in Nebraska.
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services received reports of two recent deaths in the Central Nebraska region that have been attributed to West Nile Virus. In the last five years, Nebraska has seen an average of six deaths per year from the virus.
The state HHS agency said people over 50 years of age or with compromised immune systems are at the greatest risk for severe illness.
There are no vaccines to prevent or medicines to treat WNV in people. Approximately one out of 150 infected people develop a serious, sometimes fatal, illness.
