Sabine MartinJosé Mendiola, Des Moines Register
Waterloo, IA- In front of a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe inside the Queen of Peace Catholic Church, a massive diorama last month portrayed the crossing of immigrants from the Rio Grande from Mexico into America.
With a makeshift river stocked with goldfish, a family of five figures stood by a miniature Mexican flag looking to the opposite bank that is guarded by several action-figure soldiers with assault weapons next to a miniature American flag. In the river, two dolls depict girls trying to cross to the other side.
Rev. Nils de Jesús Hernández, pastor of Queen of Peace Parish and director of Hispanic ministry in Waterloo, directed the construction of the diorama for a penitential rosary leading to the Dec. 12 celebration of the Feast of Our Lady Guadalupe.
It served a more pointed purpose for Hernández, who has protested Iowa legislation targeting immigrants and envisioned the scene after President-elect Donald Trump won the Nov. 5 election.
Hernández’s church serves some of Waterloo’s 6,400 foreign-born residents who comprise nearly 10% of the city’s population, according to U.S. Census data. In a state with an estimated 105,000 undocumented immigrants, Hernández fears what Trump’s return will bring.
“This came to mind as I was praying in my house, and I was just in tears and I said, ‘What is going to happen to the people I serve?’” Hernández said as he stood by the diorama on a wintry day.
The president-elect has signaled he wants to see an overhaul of the country’s immigration system, starting by deporting immigrants living in the country illegally who have violated the law.
“On Day 1, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out,” Trump said during his campaign’s closing speech at Madison Square Garden before the general election.
In response, immigrants and advocacy groups in Iowa are bracing for what’s to come for the state’s undocumented immigrants, as well as those who fear their legal status could be taken away.
Iowa Republicans counter that Trump’s deportation plans are necessary to remove people who aren’t living in the state legally. Gov. Kim Reynolds has vowed to aid Trump’s efforts, using the National Guard and law enforcement if needed. Her office declined to comment for this story.
“Republican governors remain fully committed to supporting the Trump administration’s efforts to deport dangerous criminals, gang members and terrorists who are in this country illegally,” Reynolds said in a Dec. 13 joint statement with other Republican governors. “We understand the direct threat these criminal illegal immigrants pose to public safety and our national security, and we will do everything in our power to assist in removing them from our communities.”
‘We saw the impacts of that almost immediately’: Immigrant advocacy groups brace for second Trump term
Erica Johnson, executive director at Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice, which provides legal services to immigrants and advocates on their behalf, said her team is taking Trump at his word and potentially “bracing for something worse.”
Johnson said her organization has been swamped with legal work related to the Trump administration’s proposed immigration policies.
“We have people, absolutely families, who are being really proactive about how they’re going to protect themselves and their families, and we’re encouraging people to meet with an attorney to see if they have any immigration remedies available to them,” Johnson said. “The problem is that there’s not a whole lot of accessible, high-quality immigration legal service providers in the state of Iowa.”
More than 470 immigration-related administrative changes were enacted during Trump’s first term, according to the Migration Policy Institute, Johnson highlighted.
“We are Iowans, and we are no stranger to the disaster that is ICE enforcement in our communities, and so we are taking the lessons that we’ve learned from previous worksite raids and the previous Trump administration,” she said. “We are rebuilding networks of support that we have built in the past, and reengaging our allies and the relationships that we’ve built over the last couple of decades as we prepare for whatever happens.”
Joa LaVille, co-organizer of Immigrant Allies of Marshalltown and the Community Response Coalition, wrote in a statement that with all of the unknowns, the group’s members are trying not to speculate about what may happen at the federal level.
Iowa Republicans on board with proposed Trump immigration plan
Iowa’s top Republican officials, however, have strongly voiced their support for Trump’s immigration agenda, saying the state’s security depends on it.
Reynolds‘ letter she signed with 25 other Republican governors stated they will use “every tool at our disposal,” including deploying the state’s National Guard and law enforcement, to carry out Trump’s deportation agenda.
The governors have joined other Republicans who say President Joe Biden failed to secure the U.S.-Mexico border from illegal immigrants.
Experts say Trump’s proposals would require state support to accomplish. Reynolds signed a Texas-style immigration law, Senate File 2340, in April that allows Iowa law enforcement to arrest undocumented immigrants for “illegal reentry” into the state.
The U.S. Department of Justice sued to block the law from going into effect shortly after its passage in May, arguing that immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility, and a federal judge agreed. The state is appealing.
Iowa Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee and was the floor manager for the bill, said America is a land of immigrants, but people who are not in the country legally should be concerned.
“It is immoral what is being done to these people that are trying to get across the border for a better life,” he said. “And obviously, we need to reform our immigration policies, there’s no doubt about that, but there’s nothing moral about encouraging illegal immigration, absolutely nothing.”
Holt said immigration will be a priority for Iowa lawmakers during the legislative session starting Jan. 13, and he vowed that Iowa Republicans will do everything they can to help the Trump administration.
“We want everything to be as humane as possible. We understand a lot of people simply came here for a better life and, they have lives here, and jobs, and in many cases are law-abiding citizens, but they broke the law to get here, and that’s an issue that will have to be dealt with at some point,” Holt said. “So we’ve arrived at that point; the day of reckoning is here.”
Iowa’s federal delegation also has voiced support for Trump’s plans, although Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, told Storm Lake High School students in November they shouldn’t be concerned, despite nearly one-third of residents there being foreign born.
In interviews with the Register, U.S. Reps. Ashley Hinson and Randy Feenstra said deporting people who have committed crimes and who are living in the U.S. illegally is a top priority. Hinson said she’s hopeful Iowa communities won’t have “huge disruptions” from Trump’s plan for deportations if they are focused on removing criminals.
Feenstra said in his Dec. 18 interview with the Des Moines Register that the first thing Congress has to do is lock down the U.S.-Mexico border.
Mixed-status families, DACA recipients waiting in fear
Northern Iowa resident Iran Carlos Martinez, 27, who came to the U.S. with her family from Mexico through visas as a child, said she’s been fearful of her status since the last Trump administration as a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.
Her parents and siblings are among the estimated 4 million families in the U.S. who are of mixed legal status.
Trump said in December he doesn’t want to separate mixed-status families, but added he would “send the whole family, very humanely, back to the country where they came.”
“It’s sort of just like, ‘Oh, OK,’ so even if I did get citizenship, I don’t win, because how are you going to do that to my sisters? It’s frustrating,” Carlos Martinez said. “I hold a lot of anger because of all the disinformation and what we saw from this election.”
Trump said recently in an NBC “Meet the Press” interview that he wants to be able to “work something out” with Democrats so DACA recipients could remain in the U.S. But he attempted to remove the program during his first term in the White House.
More than 1,300 DACA recipients such as Carlos Martinez live in Iowa and Omaha, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ June data, which counts over 535,000 DACA recipients living in the U.S.
For former DACA recipient Maria Gonzalez, 36, coming to the U.S. didn’t happen as her family initially envisioned.
Her mother brought Gonzalez and her brother to the U.S. and moved to Marshalltown after hearing of agricultural work opportunities. She worked at a meat-processing plant in town during the 1990s. The family was undocumented and did not speak English, Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez, who is a community organizer with the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice, moved to Iowa at age 4 from Michoacán, Mexico.
In December 2006, the U.S. Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted raids in six Swift & Co. meat-packing plants and arrested nearly 1,300 workers, including her mother, Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez, who was a DACA recipient, was about 16 years old, the oldest of five children, when her mother was arrested.
“Reality struck me,” she said. “And never before that point, I think I never thought about my status or being undocumented because I grew up here. I went to elementary, to high school and I participated in the community. I didn’t feel like my status was limiting me.”
Gonzalez’s mother was subsequently taken to Camp Dodge, a National Guard facility in Johnston, she said.
“I couldn’t figure out what I was going to do next or what was going to happen to my family when she was deported,” she said. “It was a fearful moment for all of us, trying to figure out what’s going to happen to her.”
Gonzalez’s mother was able to go in front of an immigration judge. She described her mother as an average American who pays taxes, the only thing is she didn’t have a Social Security number.
“People from Marshalltown wrote letters in support of her, that she was a good mom, that she was a hard worker, that she contributed to the community, and she was a part of the church,” Gonzalez said. “All of these people really supported my family and her, and thanks to them they let her stay.”
Gonzalez, who has residency after her husband applied for her, said she and her mother are still trying to obtain citizenship after living in the United States for more than 30 years.
“For those who consider themselves allies, this is a moment to use your voice as well,” she said.
‘You’re not alone’: Religious leaders show solidarity with Iowa’s immigrants
During the Dec. 12 penitential rosary Hernández hosted specifically in solidarity with immigrants at the Waterloo church, he led members of the community in prayer.
“I want to pray with the people and say the church is providing support and you’re not alone,” Hernández said.
Iowa’s Catholic bishops also published a letter expressing solidarity with immigrants after Trump’s election. Tom Chapman, Iowa Catholic Conference executive director, said the bishops have made public their stance.
“I think the letter is pretty clear that they’re asking people to be treated as human beings,” Chapman said. “We don’t know exactly what the future is going to bring, but I think that will become more clear as we move toward Inauguration Day.”
Hernández said immigrants in the church’s community have spoken with him about their fears of being deported.
“These are young families, they have children,” he said. “These children were born here in Iowa, they’re Iowans, but unfortunately, their situation is not the best.”
Hernández was born in Nicaragua, came to the United States in November 1988 and was naturalized as a citizen in 2001. He said the fear he had for his community the first time Trump was elected doesn’t compare with what he feels now.
Dave Cushing, the director of adult formation for the Catholic parishes in Waterloo, said the church dedicated the nine days of prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe for immigrants in fear of the future.
Church leaders wanted to do the penitential rosary to ensure immigrants and migrants that the community understands their concerns and supports them.
“We are praying for brothers and sisters who are endangered by a system that doesn’t recognize their dignity or protect their safety,” Cushing said. “We’re just hoping for the best going forward.”
How many people in Iowa would be affected by Trump’s ‘mass deportations’ plan?
Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration would deport more than 11 million undocumented migrants in the U.S., more than 3% of the country’s population, according to Pew Research Center estimates from 2022 data.
An estimated 26% of Iowa’s immigrant population is undocumented, according to the American Immigration Council. The same data shows that 2.4% of Iowa’s workforce is comprised of immigrants living in the state without legal permission.
Iowa’s population is over 3.1 million people.
How would Trump’s plan for ‘mass deportations’ be carried out?
While it is unclear how Trump’s plans for mass deportations would work, here’s what he has said about it.
Trump said in November he will declare a national emergency and call on the military to assist in the promised deportations. His spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told USA Today his administration will use “every federal and state power necessary” to execute the mass deportation program.
Experts say Trump’s plan could face several hurdles. The mass deportations could cost American taxpayers $150 billion to $350 billion, Axios reported in November.
The U.S. immigration system also has a backlog of nearly 4 million cases and a shortage of immigration judges, which is slowing the process.
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