The Justice Department is set to take a significant step this week, initiating a lawsuit against Iowa over its new immigration law. This law, which criminalizes the entry of individuals previously deported or barred from the country, mirrors the controversial Texas law. The latter is currently under legal scrutiny. Notably, other Republican-led states are also contemplating similar legislation. Spencer Amdur, a senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, sheds light on the rationale behind these stringent state immigration laws and why federal courts have invalidated similar state laws. And in headlines: Adult film star Stormy Daniels described in explicit detail a sexual encounter she had with Donald Trump during testimony in the former president’s criminal hush-money trial, TikTok sued the federal government over a new law that could ban the app in the U.S., and Israeli forces seized control of the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza.