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 […]
Immigration
Posted inCommunity/News
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 […]
Posted inCommunity/News
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 […]
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘My Father Called Us Monkeys’ by Mario Duarte
When my friend Mario Duarte asked me to read his latest book, a series of connected short stories about a Mexican-American boy growing up in western Illinois called My Father Called Us Monkeys published by Ice Cube Press, I was both excited and a tad apprehensive.
Posted inCommunity/News
Sen. Joni Ernst tells Storm Lake students not to worry about Trump’s plans for mass deportations and detention camps
Sen. Joni Ernst told Storm Lake High School students on Friday they don’t need to worry about President-elect Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. “Ernst insisted potential deportations wouldn’t impact employees at Tyson Foods or the rest of Storm Lake,” the Storm Lake Times Pilot reported. Ernst’s meeting with students in the […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Federal judge blocks Iowa’s attempt to create its own deportation system
A federal judge in Des Moines issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the enforcement of SF 2340, the Reynolds administration’s attempt to appropriate the federal government’s power to create and enforce immigration laws, establishing a state-level deportation process. U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Locher’s ruling came one week after he heard oral arguments in two lawsuits […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Federal judge hears arguments in lawsuits challenging Iowa’s attempt to create its own system to deport immigrants
A federal judge in Des Moines heard arguments on Monday on the attempt by the Reynolds administration to appropriate the federal government’s power to create and enforce immigration laws. SF 2340 makes it a state crime for a person to be in Iowa if they have previously been denied entry into the U.S., or been […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Two lawsuits filed over Iowa’s attempt to usurp federal immigration law and set up its own deportation system
Two lawsuits challenging the attempt by Republicans in the Iowa Legislature to let the Reynolds administration appropriate power belonging to the federal government in order to arrest and deport immigrants in Iowa based on their past, not current, immigration status were filed in federal court on Thursday. SF 2340, which Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law last […]
Posted inCommunity/News
DOJ will sue Reynolds administration if the state attempts to enforce its new immigration law
The U.S. Department of Justice has warned Gov. Reynolds that it will sue the state of Iowa if the Reynolds administration attempts to enforce SF 2340, the Des Moines Register reported on Friday. That bill, which Reynolds signed into law last month, would usurp the federal government’s enforcement of immigration laws by transferring some federal […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa immigration advocates protest four bills they say would create barriers for legal residents
Some of the Republican-proposed bills taking aim at undocumented immigration this legislative session would also make it harder for naturalized citizens and other legal residents to live and work in Iowa, members of a migrant advocacy group said Wednesday. Members of the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice rallied in the Capitol rotunda against four bills […]
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Claiming Biden’s border policies are ‘destroying our country,’ Gov. Reynolds joins a new ‘strike force’
Gov. Kim Reynolds has joined 25 other Republican governors in the newly created American Governors Border Strike Force that was announced on Wednesday. Despite the dramatic-sounding name and some overheated rhetoric from Reynolds in a written statement about it on Thursday (“President Biden’s disastrous border policies and lack of leadership are destroying our country.”) the […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Cortado: El muro de la infamia
Ningún pueblo, ningún país del mundo ha logrado desarrollarse levantando muros o el cierre de sus puertos. Históricamente, en el caso de los Estados Unidos, la facilitación de la inmigración y el flujo de mercancías de un lugar a otro han sido un elemento fundamental para el desarrollo económico, cultural, artístico, jurídico, etcétera, de este […]
