On his first day in office, President Trump signed eight executive orders related to immigrants and refugees, including freezing the United States Refugee Admissions Program, raising the visa process to be “vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible” and increasing protection at the Southern border. After 100 days, a series of new regulations and actions were taken that reflect anti-immigrant policies, especially concerning undocumented immigrants.
“In the last 100 days, there’s been an incredible increase in fear, and not only folks that are undocumented, but a lot of folks that do have legal status too,” said Hayley Rauzi `10, who works as a caseworker at the International Rescue Committee.
Iowa at a crossroads: Families, labor and immigrant rights
“We’re dealing with major attacks on the immigrant community,” said Joe Enriquez Henry, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens Council #307, or Latinos United of Iowa.
He pointed to the policy cascade that began Jan. 20, Trump’s first day in office, when Customs and Border Protection (CBP) eliminated the CBP One scheduling tool that let undocumented immigrants book border appointments, and the White House issued eight sweeping orders. Those directives overhauled visa screening, mandated wider detention of suspected immigration violators, expanded southern border security, suspended the refugee program, revoked 78 Biden-era orders and even questioned automatic birthright citizenship.
For many Iowan families, immigration policy isn’t just politics. It affects family and friends — for Rauzi, a Nicaraguan friend on Temporary Protected Status since he was 2 years old.
“Next month, the Temporary Protected Status for Nicaragua is up for renewal, and he’s facing the possibility that he might have to return after 23 years to a country that he doesn’t even remember,” Rauzi said.
According to Peter Orazem, professor of economics at Iowa State University, immigration is a key factor in Iowa’s economic survival.
“Immigration is the most important area for the Iowa labor force,” said Orazem. “Immigrants tend to be younger, so they’re more likely to be working, and immigrants generally have higher labor force participation rates than native born workers, and about 38 percent of the population growth in Iowa since 2000 has been due to immigration.”
In Iowa, the undocumented population is relatively small. “Iowa does not have a very large fraction of its labor force that’s undocumented,” said Orazem. “One of the big initial policies by the Trump administration is to make it much more difficult to be in the U.S. as an undocumented, foreign-born citizen, and so that’s likely not to be affecting Iowa as much as it is other places.”
As executive orders and legislation increase, states feel the ripple effects.
“Anything that makes it more difficult for immigrants to work in the United States is going to negatively affect Iowa’s labor supply,” said Orazem.
How we got here: The rise of anti-immigrant laws in America
The Jan. 20 directives were only the opening salvo. Within a week, 1,500 active-duty troops headed to the border, and acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman began re-examining parole cases approved under President Biden. By month’s end, the Laken Riley Act required ICE to hold immigrants arrested for burglary, theft or shoplifting, and the administration opened extra detention space at Guantánamo for “high-priority” cases.
February shifted the spotlight to legal status and public benefits. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem moved to end Venezuelans’ Temporary Protected Status, pressed Treasury to share data with ICE and ordered the Office of Refugee Resettlement to fingerprint every adult in a household before an unaccompanied minor could be released. A separate order cut off taxpayer aid to undocumented migrants deemed ineligible.
March brought challenges to long-standing precedent. The administration backed a lawsuit contesting birthright citizenship, invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act against Venezuelans linked to the Tren de Aragua gang and began transferring detained Venezuelans to a prison in El Salvador — later admitting it had wrongly deported Maryland man Kilmer Armado Abrego-Garcia.
Fiscal and due process concerns followed. An April 7 memo cleared the IRS to share some immigrants’ tax records with ICE, and two weeks later the president wrote on Truth Social: “We cannot give everyone a trial, because to do so would take, without exaggeration, 200 years.”
How communities in Iowa are mobilizing for immigrant rights
Advocacy organizations around the country have gathered resources for immigrants.
“We’ve encouraged our members to meet with their local elected officials, to participate in protest rallies, demonstrations,” said Henry.
Back in Grinnell, Right Reverend Betsey Monnet, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa, said that while there had been no specific incidents yet involving immigrants in Iowan congregations, there were still “general concerns from folks who may be targeted.”
On Feb. 1, a post on X accused the Lutheran Church — which receives up to $76.1 million in federal grants for their immigrant and refugee services — of money laundering. Elon Musk, senior advisor to the president, responded, “The DOGE team is rapidly shutting down these illegal payments.”
Daniel Rinehart, pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Grinnell, said that the Lutheran Church has historically been “prominent in refugee resettlement.”
“As a citizen, I’m frightened, I’m appalled at this idea that people can just be grabbed off the streets,” he said.
The Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice (Iowa MMJ), which is based in Des Moines, is another organization that has faced funding cuts.
“One of the main fundings we and other non-profits like ours across the country lost was for supporting new citizens with citizenship classes, naturalization application assistance, and integration services,” wrote Iowa MMJ Communications Specialist Elena Casillas-Hoffman in an email to The S&B. “This was a $65,000 yearly grant we received that supported around 100-300 individuals who qualified to become citizens, almost all who have roots and families here in Iowa and who have waited on average 5-25 years to become a citizen.”
According to Monnet, most immigrants that enter church communities are of two broad categories—new immigrants, who may or may not already be religious, looking for assistance to assimilate into society, or immigrants who were already part of the Episcopal denomination before coming to the U.S. Many of them are economic immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers or part of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees resettlement program, from regions like Central and South America and Africa.
Local immigrant organizations like Community Support for Immigrants ( CoSI) offer targeted support for immigrants who are new to the community — for instance, English classes to facilitate their adjustment.
On Jan. 20, the Trump administration rescinded a “sensitive areas” policy that prohibited law enforcement from entering places like churches, schools and hospitals.
Co-chair of the Community Support for Immigrants (CoSI) Steering Committee John Ashby said, “Immigrants have been available as plugs for politicians looking to get people agitated.”
Noting that those who needed the most help may be afraid of coming to public spaces, he added: “It’s hard to criticize anybody for being a little paranoid right now. You don’t know who’s going to be the next victim.”
“If there’s a food pantry or something like that, the possibility that ICE might show up might keep people away,” said Monnet. “The target is going against anybody who may be documented or undocumented.”
Casillas-Hoffman wrote that there was an “overwhelming feeling” of fear.
“The biggest change we have seen, beyond an increase of individuals coming to us for services, is an increase in individuals who have status with no records feeling targeted,” she wrote. “Even as we continue to inform our communities of their rights, many understandably are not only afraid for themselves but also their families.”
Referring to the 1922 and 1923 Supreme Court cases of Takao Ozawa and Bhagat Singh Thind respectively, Ashby said, “They [immigrants] have been unfair victims for a long time… Whereas this might be an overly positive implication that our opinion of immigrants has gotten worse, these two stories show that it’s always been a back and forth.”
On measures that the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa has taken, Monnet said that they have resources on their websites and meetings to explain what communities should do in an emergency. “We’ve had Know Your Rights red cards printed out in various languages and made them available to congregations, particularly those with many immigrants who speak a different language,” she added.
Reverend Wendy Abrahamson, parish priest of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Grinnell, described her clergy as a “really active group of people” who have “always had a welcoming stance towards other people.”
“Many of them are already doing things in the community… they’re very compassionate,” she said, citing examples of fundraisers, vigils and intentional prayers. She added that her role as a priest was not to determine their duties to the community but to simply support and encourage them.
Rinehart, on the other hand, felt that his congregation was not as active.
“There’s a variety of opinions and a range of engagement,” he said. “If you want me to estimate what folks in this congregation feel, the people I know of would share my perspective.”
Yet, he added, “There are people who think it’s not a perfect solution, but that there is still an immigration problem. There are people who don’t have a sense of what’s going on… a lot of people don’t have the bandwidth to be closely following it, to be watching and hearing the news.”
To Abrahamson, “the purging that is happening federally seems driven by not liking people from other places.”
“Why are you so scared of people? What kind of worldview is that?” she said. “It was just painful to me.”
“I have a feeling that we are not connected to each other,” said Rinehart. “Groups that work with immigrants talk to them, and groups in support of what the administration is doing talk to each other. They don’t mix.”
Meanwhile, at CoSI, Ashby explained that they had redone their emergency response plan “with the knowledge that you have to be flexible and light on your feet.” Additionally, he said that the organization was working to strengthen relationships with other immigrant organizations. “We’ve had conversations with people in school districts letting them know we have money available.”
Ashby said that CoSI’s steering committee were not prepared to stop their work.
“The need for humanitarian workers is greater than it ever was… people have fewer places to turn for help,” he said. For him, CoSI is a place “for totally nonpartisan work, where the only driver is humanitarian.”
“We are obligated to welcome the stranger and to love our neighbor. It’s a priority for us as Christians,” said Monnet. “Our government is infringing on our rights to free exercise of religion.”
Abrahamson is one of three representatives the Iowa Episcopal Diocese sends to the Iowa State Capitol as regular lobbyists.
“When I do stuff at the Capitol… we usually just pick a few topics to focus on,” she said. “This year, immigration was one of them, and there were a number of bills that were registered — there was none to support.”
“Why do I do this? I know I’m not gonna win, because I’m not gonna,” she said. “It matters to the church and people that live there… It’s about bearing witness.”
Ashby recalled the advice that was given to him by an ex-Navy deep sea diver — “You do what you can.”
“You got to let the negative go away,” he said. “You can let it incentivize you, but you cannot blame yourself for what you cannot do. It keeps you not whining about what you can’t do, because you’re doing what you can do.”
