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President Donald Trump’s pledge to enact mass deportations has spread fear and panic across Iowa’s immigrant communities, especially in parts of the state where immigrants are a large part of the agriculture and meatpacking workforce. 

Community organizations and religious leaders have been inundated with frantic phone calls as warnings spread over social media. Some posts claimed without evidence that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, officers were actively patrolling Latino neighborhoods across the state, conducting operations to capture undocumented individuals. 

“I want to convey a clear message to everyone listening, no matter where you are — remain calm,” said Father Nils Hernandez, from the Queen of Peace Parish, in Waterloo, during a Facebook Live session organized by the community media outlet El Trueque on Tuesday night. The session aimed to counter the misinformation circulating among the immigrant community.

Trump officials have said raids should be expected in large Democratic-controlled cities, including New York City, Chicago and Denver. 

But there’s also concern in many of America’s rural communities, especially as some Republican governors have pledged to help the Trump administration with its deportation efforts. 

Iowa, with a population of more than 3 million people, is home to approximately 52,300 undocumented immigrants, according to 2022 estimates by the American Immigration Council. Many undocumented residents work in the state’s agricultural industry — one of its most vital economic sectors. 

“Here in Iowa, the immigrant community plays a very important role in agriculture, construction and service sector health care,” said Joe Henry, state political director of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, has also directed state law enforcement to assist the federal government in its anticipated campaign to deport undocumented immigrants. 

In a memo to state law enforcement agencies, Reynolds instructed them to comply with the Department of Homeland Security’s detainer requests and ensure the transfer of individuals to immigration authorities. The directive also mandates notifying Immigration and Customs Enforcement when individuals are scheduled for release from criminal custody and holding them until they can be transferred to federal authorities.

“Let’s Make America Safe Again!” Reynolds wrote in a social media post accompanying the announcement, signaling her support for the incoming administration’s hardline immigration policies.

This is not the first action against undocumented immigrants in the state. Last year, Reynolds approved a law that criminalizes entering the state after being deported or denied entry into the United States. The law also grants state law enforcement the authority to arrest individuals who violate this provision. It was temporarily blocked by a federal judge.

Trump’s swift action

Iowa averaged 919 immigration-related arrests per year during Trump’s first term, according to data from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse or TRAC, which tracks immigration enforcement across the United States. It was lower than the 1,575 average during President Barack Obama’s first term. 

One of the most significant immigration raids in U.S. history occurred in Iowa in 2008 during the Obama administration, when 389 immigrant workers were arrested at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville. 

At the time, it was the largest raid of its kind, leaving a profound and lasting impact on the local community, as families were torn apart and the local economy suffered severe disruptions.

Arrests dropped to a 787 annual average during Obama’s second term before increasing again under Trump. 

But many who work in the immigrant community say there is fear Trump’s second term will be even more focused on deportations. 

“People are afraid, people are nervous, people don’t want to go to work,” said Ninoska Campos, a member of Escucha Mi Voz Iowa, an Iowa city organization that works with immigrants and refugees. “This was not the experience during his first term. There was always fear, but there wasn’t as much threat.”

On his first day back in office, Trump signed several executive actions targeting the undocumented population, including granting federal authorities the power to detain individuals in or near schools and churches. Trump also attempted to restrict automatic birthright citizenship in the United States, but this latest executive order was blocked by a federal judge on Thursday.

Nationwide, an estimated 42% of farm workers were undocumented in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service.

Mass deportation could lead to a 10% increase in food prices, according to a September study from the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C. 

“If we lost half of the farmworker population in a short period of time, the agriculture sector would likely collapse,” Mary Jo Dudley, the director of the Cornell Farmworker Program, told Investigate Midwest. “There are no available skilled workers to replace the current workforce should this policy be put into place.”

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