All state and local law enforcement agencies in Iowa would be required to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to identify and detain immigrants who don’t have legal status under a bill advanced Thursday by Republicans on an Iowa House subcommittee.
About 150 of the country’s more than 17,000 law enforcement jurisdictions have chosen to enter ICE agreements under a program known as 287(g). None of them are in Iowa.
The bill would require all Iowa law enforcement agencies to enter agreements with ICE to participate in the 287(g) jail enforcement model, which targets immigrants who are facing criminal charges and aren’t authorized to be in the U.S., and the warrant service officer program, in which ICE trains local law enforcement to serve immigration warrants.
However, President Donald Trump’s administration is working to expand the program so that local law enforcement agencies can conduct immigration arrests on the streets.
At a hearing on the bill, Maria Gonzalez of Marshalltown said lawmakers are unfairly targeting immigrants and refugees.
“Let’s call this what it is. This is an anti-immigrant bill,” she said. “Bills like these separate families and foster a climate of fear in our communities. Justifying the criminalization of our people is unacceptable, and you should be ashamed of that.”
Michael Tupper, a retired former police chief from Marshalltown, said the bill will undermine public safety.
“It’s another attack on local control, and it simply will undermine the mission of your local law enforcement officers, who are working in their communities every day to build trust and relationships with their community, to protect their communities and keep them safe,” he said.
Alex Lara of Des Moines said the bill would stoke fear and make everyone unsafe.
“And even though we have an administration that villainizes immigrants, they’re not the threat,” Lara said. “Immigrants make our communities great. The real threat in our community is food insecurity, homelessness, unaffordable child care and health care, and an environment that is more dangerous every day.”
The two Republican lawmakers on the subcommittee were the only people at the hearing who spoke in support of the bill.
Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison, said the bill is critical for keeping communities safe. He said many people who entered the U.S. illegally came for a better life and are otherwise law-abiding residents, but there are also criminals who are in the country without legal status.
“It is vital that we have complete cooperation between local, state and federal authorities as we work to remove these dangerous individuals from our communities and make everyone — immigrant and citizen — safer,” he said.
Iowa Police Chiefs Association Vice President Chad McCluskey said the group has registered as “undecided” on the bill.
“The one thing that I would note is law enforcement currently struggles with resources as things go right now,” he said. “And we do have some concerns that additional loads on our resources, without some funding to support that, may create some additional challenges.”
Erica Johnson, executive director of Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice, said not many law enforcement agencies have these agreements with ICE.
“And that’s at least in part because international jurisdictions, the Department of Justice and local groups have found them to be ineffective, a waste of taxpayer money, and they result in racial profiling,” she said. “When we call it a racist bill, that’s what we’re talking about, because something that causes racial profiling is racist.”
Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Hull, voted with Holt to advance the bill to the full House Judiciary Committee. He took issue with people who described their experiences with racial profiling by police.
“Our job is to keep our citizens safe,” he said. “They come first and foremost, and I’m not going to sit here and listen to the attacks on our law enforcement like I just heard today.”
