By Allison Moore, Storm Lake Times Pilot
Storm Lake, IA-State Senator Lynn Evans, R-Aurelia, and Representative Megan Jones, R-Sioux Rapids, dodged questions from Storm Lake residents fearful for their safety in light of proposed state bills targeting undocumented immigrants.
The two legislators fielded questions from an impassioned audience of nearly 100 local residents at a public forum at King’s Pointe Resort Saturday, March 15. Among chief concerns was protection for immigrant communities in fear of raids and racial discrimination.
“What protections will be in place to prohibit law enforcement from assuming someone is undocumented just because of how we look and how we speak?” asked Joanna Chavez de León, an ESL teacher at the Storm Lake Middle School.
Jones noted after more than five questions about what speakers called “anti-immigrant” legislation, that she doesn’t typically research bills proposed in the House unless they “make it to (her) desk.” Jones explained that she doesn’t serve on the House Judiciary Committee so she hasn’t yet encountered any bills concerning the transportation of migrants.
“People introduce things (bills) every day, and I hear about it when we get into the House chamber,” Jones said. “So, I can’t defend every bill.”
Joanne Alvorez, a board member with SALUD Multicultural Health Organization in Storm Lake, asked Evans and Jones at the public forum Saturday about legislation aimed at penalizing transporters of undocumented immigrants. Alvorez cited House File 572 pertaining to “human smuggling.” If passed, the bill would in part require that those found “smuggling persons … with the intent to conceal the individual from a peace officer” be charged with a class C or B felony.
Alvorez claimed the “vague” language of the bill encourages discrimination against undocumented immigrants. She claimed it would embolden law enforcement to interrogate individuals with darker skin.
“How are we going to make sure that those people aren’t penalized, along with whoever else they’re supposedly trying to (transport) when it comes to human smuggling?” Alvorez asked.
The audience erupted in applause.
Jones said she wasn’t very familiar with the bill.
“I don’t know a whole lot about it,” she told Alvorez. “I haven’t been a part of these conversations, but I appreciate hearing that you have concerns about it, so I’ll keep my eye on it.”
SLHS senior compares proposed human smuggling bill to Nazi Germany
Evans declined to respond to Alvorez’s question.
But half a dozen other residents continued to press the issue of immigrant safety.
Storm Lake High School senior Emma Dierking’s question on HF 572 elicited some of the loudest applause of the event. She likened the legislative proposal to Hitler’s regime which criminalized individuals harboring or transporting Jewish people.
“This bill reminded me of Nazi Germany in the 1940s when individuals were targeted for helping those persecuted for their beliefs or race,” Dierking said. “I would like to know why it would be considered a crime to help those who have done no wrong except benefit our country through hard work and hopes for a better future.”
She urged the two legislators to oppose the bill with Storm Lake’s immigrant population in mind.
Evans told Dierking he would support the bill if it only proposes criminally charging individuals transporting undocumented immigrants. It does.
“If it’s specifically for people who come into our country by means other than what’s already legal, then yeah, you shouldn’t be transporting them,” Evans said. “It is truly, at that point, smuggling.”
The proposed legislation would permit the arrest and felony charges against those caught “smuggling persons when the person knowingly, for payment or anything of value” transports a noncitizen to conceal them or flee from law enforcement.
Evans then cited “another bill moving in Iowa” regarding sex trafficking. Evans was likely referring to HF 831 which would establish human trafficking prosecution units and House Study Bill 285, which proposes increasing felony charges for traffickers and individuals purchasing others for sex.
“Iowa is the number two per capita in human sex trafficking, that’s a true thing,” Evans said in response to Dierking’s question.
Evans has spoken at an anti-sex trafficking event with conservative activist and speaker Stacy Besch of Algona, who has purported at over 100 events that Iowa has the third-highest rate of human trafficking in the country. Nearly a dozen Iowa district attorneys, law enforcement and educational administrators expressed alarm with “disinformation” and “dangerous generalizations” in Besch’s presentations, according to reporting from the Cherokee Chronicle Times earlier this month.
“That’s a false equivalency,” yelled Christa Galvin, a SLHS English teacher, from her seat. Two other audience members echoed her statement.
Evans didn’t budge.
“We have undocumented children who have been transported in this state for that very purpose,” Evans said.
Dierking clarified that she initially asked how the legislators would help “prevent racial profiling” if HF 572 passes.
Evans found it difficult to believe that any of the aforementioned legislative proposals would motivate law enforcement to conduct more stops on Hispanic Iowans.
“You’re assuming that all undocumented people are of a certain race, and that’s not necessarily true,” Evans responded.
Evans: “I would certainly hope that our law enforcement wouldn’t be racially profiling”
Pressed further about whether state bills targeting undocumented immigrants lead to discrimination, Jones again skirted questions and Evans said he “hopes” Iowa law enforcement officers wouldn’t racially profile individuals.
Genesis Morelos, a SLHS junior, specifically asked Rep. Jones her stance on HF 946, which would impose a felony charge against “law enforcement officers who don’t comply with state immigration laws.”
“Local police are already stretched thin,” Morelos said. “How do you expect them to take on additional immigration enforcement responsibilities without sacrificing public safety?”
After a round of applause, Jones asked how she was affiliated with the proposed bill.
“Because it’s in the House,” multiple attendees responded.
Jones declined to state an opinion, claiming she hasn’t worked on or reviewed it.
“For clarification, just because a bill is introduced in the House doesn’t mean that it’s mine, doesn’t mean that I support it, doesn’t mean that I have any knowledge of it being introduced or being worked on,” Jones said.
Emilia Marroquín, a Storm Lake school board member, interjected.
“But it affects your community,” she projected from a third-row seat.
Evans insisted that immigration law is largely a federal responsibility. He doesn’t expect local law enforcement to act as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. And he claimed federal law already mandates county sheriffs to cooperate with ICE if agents.
“I don’t know that our local county sheriffs, at least in rural Iowa, want to or have the resources to take this on individually,” Evans said. “I don’t expect our local law enforcement to go around knocking on doors and shaking people down — that’s not their job, that’s under federal authority.”
There is no federal law requiring local law enforcement to aid in detaining undocumented immigrants. Though the Iowa House Judiciary Committee is currently reviewing House Study Bill 187, which would require every Iowa law enforcement agency to sign a memorandum of understanding with ICE, effectively deputizing officers to deport undocumented immigrants with criminal charges.
Ofelia Rumbo asked the legislators to acknowledge that even the introduction of a bill like HF 946 breeds mistrust of law enforcement among immigrant groups.
“Our police department has worked for so many years trying to build trust with our communities, because their job is to protect us and provide safety,” said Rumbo, a Mexican immigrant who earned U.S. citizenship in 2021.
“When a bill like this is introduced, what it creates is panic. Now people aren’t going to be reporting (crime) because they’re afraid that they’re going to be picked up because of their documented status.”
The room again roared in applause.
Both Jones and Evans remained silent after her comment.
After Chavez de León reiterated concerns that if passed, legislation pertaining to undocumented immigrants could warrant police to arrest someone like her based solely on her skin color.
“I’m a proud daughter of immigrants,” Chavez de León said through tears. “I’m very proud to say I’m Mexican. I’m also American … Unfortunately, if I’m driving somewhere else, they don’t know me, they (law enforcement) can see my skin color and I can get picked up.”
“I would certainly hope that our law enforcement wouldn’t be racially profiling,” Evans replied.
The audience expressed immediate dismay with Evans’s response.
“They are! It’s already happening,” responded around 10 attendees.
The forum ended shortly after. Jones and Evans spoke with attendees for around an hour after the event. The legislators will return for their third and final forum in Storm Lake on April 12, less than two weeks before the Iowa legislative session ends.
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