After being temporarily barred from deporting four international students at the University of Iowa who are suing the Department of Homeland Security for revoking their status as students, the agency is now contesting the students’ wish to remain anonymous. The students’ lawsuit, filed last month in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, identifies […]
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
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UI grad student becomes one of the more than 700 international students whose visas have been revoked by the Trump administration
The State Department has revoked the visa of a graduate student at the University of Iowa, according to an email sent to the university’s international students and scholars on Thursday. The Trump administration’s ongoing and unprecedented mass revocation of student visas has resulted in more than 700 students around the country being stripped of their […]
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AG Bird sues Winneshiek County over sheriff’s Facebook post, asks court to withhold all their state funding
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird filed a petition in Polk County District Court on Thursday, asking a judge to declare Winneshiek County in violation of Chapter 27A of Iowa Code, making it ineligible to receive any state funds. That section of Iowa Code requires every “local entity” in the state to cooperate with federal immigration […]
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AG Bird threatens to cut off state funds for Winneshiek County after Gov. Reynolds complains about a Facebook post by the sheriff
Update: On Thursday afternoon, Attorney General Brenna Bird announced she had filed the threatened lawsuit against in Winneshiek County and Sheriff Marx. In a report released Wednesday afternoon, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office said AG Brenna Bird will ask a district court to cut off all state funds for Winneshiek County over a Feb. 4 Facebook […]
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Reynolds threatens to cut off state funding to Winneshiek County after sheriff says he won’t comply with ‘unconstitutional’ requests from ICE
On Wednesday, Gov. Kim Reynolds threatened Winneshiek County with the possible loss of all state funding after the county’s sheriff publicly restated his “long-time stance on not recognizing detainers” issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In a post on Tuesday on the department’s Facebook page, Winneshiek County Sheriff Dan Marx explained he and his […]
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Locals form spontaneous march protesting Trump and Reynolds policies during ‘A Day Without Immigrants’
Businesses closed across the country on Monday as people participated in a Day Without Immigrants to protest the hostile actions and rhetoric from the Trump administration targeting immigrants and their communities. In Iowa, a group of Latino activists organized a Day Without Latinos as a way to support all immigrants on the day of protest. “In […]
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Trump administration says international students can’t stay in U.S. if they are only taking online courses
As universities increasingly turn to online instruction to continue classes during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration has decided that international students won’t be permitted to stay in the United States if they are not receiving in-person instruction. “The U.S. Department of State will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and/or programs that […]
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Trump administration proposes new restriction on student visas
The Trump administration plans to make a major change to student visas, according to a notice published in the Federal Register on Wednesday. Instead of student visas being valid for “duration of status”—that is, for as long as the holders are full-time students and meet other requirements—there would be a fixed “maximum period.
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The revolution needs better sound design: The fight for immigration reform at the border
The daily summer temperature in the Chihuahuan Desert, the land that stretches from the middle of New Mexico and southeast through Texas and Mexico toward the Gulf, frequently surges above 100 degrees. The desert itself receives about 9 inches of rain a year, and very little of that during the summer months. Mix in devastating dust storms that often darken the sky and choke people to death in 70-plus mile-per-hour winds, and you have one of the most inhospitable places in the country.
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Hundreds march in Iowa City for the Families Belong Together rally
The heat index hovered near 100 degrees, and the most direct routes were blocked by the Iowa City Jazz Festival and the Iowa City Farmers Market, but that didn’t stop an enthusiastic crowd of hundreds from marching to College Green Park from the terrace of the Old State Capitol on Saturday morning for Iowa City’s Families Belong Together rally.
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Organizing communities to handle ICE and Trump administration immigration policy
While the national media focuses on immigration enforcement at the southern border as children are taken away from their parents, there’s an ongoing effort in Iowa to help immigrants deal with how Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are enforcing Trump administration policies.
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Vigil in Cedar Rapids on Monday evening to support families affected by the Mt. Pleasant ICE raid
There will be a vigil in Cedar Rapids in support of the families of the 32 workers who were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Wednesday. The vigil, which starts at 5 p.m., will be held in front of Sen. Chuck Grassley’s regional office 111 7th Ave SE.
