Fatou Traore, a longtime Iowa City resident, has been deported to Sierra Leone, a country to which she has no connections. Traore was seized by two ICE agents on Sept. 24, when she arrived at her sister’s house at approximately 6:30 a.m. to drive her to work. The agents displayed no identification and did not […]
Immigration
Posted inEastern Iowa
With Fatou Traore still in ICE custody, supporters plan Cedar Rapids rally; Grassley says his staff will look into helping
Family, friends and supporters of Fatou Traore are holding a rally and vigil at the federal building in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday morning as they continue their efforts to secure the release of the longtime Iowa City resident from ICE detention. Traore, an immigrant from the West African county of Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire), has […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Hundreds rally to free Iowa City mother seized by ICE and facing third-country deportation; Miller-Meeks asks for stay from DHS
Early last Thursday morning, ICE agents seized a longtime Iowa City resident as she was preparing to drive to work with her sister. Fatou Traore came to the United States in 2005 from the Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire), a West African nation. In 2011, an immigration court judge granted her an order of withholding of […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Immigrant Welcome Network celebrates three years of helping new arrivals find homes, jobs and community in Johnson County
The Immigrant Welcome Network of Johnson County (IWNJC) held its third-annual gala on Saturday in Coralville. Themed “Dreams without Borders,” the event surpassed its fundraising goal by $3,000, taking in $38,000 in donations to support its mission of helping newly arrived immigrants in the area get settled. The Unitarian Universalist Society Sanctuary was alive with […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa’s largest population of Pacific Islanders are the Marshallese, ‘a very loving people’ displaced and sickened by U.S. nuclear testing
On May 23, government officials from the Republic of the Marshall Islands traveled 6,000 miles to commemorate their country’s Constitution Day in Dubuque. The Iowa city has gathered to mark the Marshallese holiday since 2005. “Today is more than a national celebration,” Isaac Zackhras, Vice Speaker of the Marshall Islands’ parliament told the crowd in […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Four programs helping immigrants, refugees and underserved Iowans grow a farm business
Iowa has farmland in abundance, but astonishingly little of that land is used to grow food for humans — especially not food for Iowans. It’s too bad, because the state is full of folks with the skills and desire to nourish their community, and support their family in the process. Many of these would-be farmers […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Two federal judges in Iowa rebuke ICE over ‘astonishing conduct’ and violations of court orders; ICE officer held in contempt
Two federal judges in Iowa have sharply criticized government officials for repeatedly violating the law in immigration cases, with one Iowa ICE enforcement officer held in contempt for “astonishing conduct” and willfully violating a court order. The two cases, each handled by a different federal judge, involve Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials who have moved […]
Posted inCommunity/News
After 23 months in ICE custody, Sudanese man seeks release from Muscatine County Jail
A judge has ordered the federal government to state why it has jailed, for almost two years, an immigration detainee now being held in the Muscatine County Jail. A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa by Mutasim Ibrahim Abdoulrahman Nour, a citizen of Sudan, against U.S. Immigration and Customs […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Hair Art, the tornado-proof salon that never raised its prices, is closing after more than 28 years in Iowa City
Man Kwi Park plans to treat June 30 like any normal Tuesday. She will open Hair Art, her one-chair salon at the corner of Linn and Court Street, at 9 a.m., and spend the next 12 hours cutting the hair of whomever walks in. (And it will be walk-ins; Park does not take reservations.) At […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Iowa City couple who sued the Trump admin for delaying their naturalization ceremony are now citizens
Two months after they filed a federal lawsuit because their naturalization ceremony scheduled for January had been abruptly canceled for no apparent reason, longtime Iowa City residents Sunday and Regina Goshit were finally sworn in as U.S. citizens this week. “It’s 25 years of waiting; 25 years of being in this country,” Sunday Goshit told […]
Posted inElection Coverage
Feenstra and Lahn spent hundreds of thousands in the final days before the primary
As the June 2 primary drew closer, the two candidates leading the field of five Republicans running for governor spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in less than two weeks, according to the latest campaign finance reports from the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board (IECDB). This latest report covers the 12 days from May […]
Posted inCommunity/News
José Yugar-Cruz granted temporary release from ICE custody as Ebola outbreak impedes third-country deportations to Congo
José Yugar-Cruz, an asylum-seeker from Bolivia the Trump administration has been attempting to deport the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since April, has secured release from ICE custody, Escucha Mi Voz Iowa (EMV) announced on Friday morning. According to the news release from the Iowa City-based nonprofit that assists and advocates for immigrants, Yugar-Cruz was […]
