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Community rallies around immigrants worried about Trump deportation policies
Local law enforcement say they have not been asked to participate in ICE operations
Feb. 4, 2025 6:16 pm, Updated: Feb. 5, 2025 7:35 am
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CEDAR RAPIDS — Songs, chants and prayers rose up from in front of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in southwest Cedar Rapids Tuesday morning as community members gathered in the cold to rally in support of immigrants visiting the office for their required check-ins with federal immigration officials.
The vigil was organized by nonprofits Escucha Mi Voz and The Iowa City Catholic Worker House, both based in Iowa City. The two organizations regularly provide transportation and accompaniment for immigrants who have been paroled into the United States or are awaiting their immigration court dates, and who are required to check in periodically with ICE.
Alejandra Escobar, an organizer with Escucha Mi Voz, said that for Tuesday’s appointments the groups decided to organize a larger vigil — beyond their normal accompaniment — as a way of standing up against President Donald Trump’s orders to increase immigration enforcement efforts around the country.
“As immigrants, we have rights. We need to be treated with respect and dignity,” Escobar said. “We’re against family separation.”
Community members heard about the gathering through various church groups and volunteer organizations in Eastern Iowa. Sister Kathleen Grace traveled with about eight other women from the Sisters of St. Francis in Dubuque to attend the rally. She said she wanted to be there as support because she believes Trump’s policies and rhetoric surrounding immigration are harmful to American communities.
“It has to stop. It’s a big fear thing,” Grace said.
Gail Ross, of Coralville, heard about the event through the St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Coralville. She said she wanted to be there Tuesday “to walk with the immigrants, to welcome, and to show solidarity.”
The group accompanied three families — a total of 11 people — to the door of the office at 8 a.m. Tuesday, and stood outside waiting for them to come out of their appointments, which they all did by around 9:15 a.m.
Dozens of other immigrants were lined up Tuesday morning waiting in below freezing temperatures outside the office. Gathered community members stood together to conserve heat, and shared messages of hope — as well as hot coffee — with the individuals in line.
Mark Pries, a retired pastor from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Iowa City, said he has attended accompaniment gatherings before, but he felt a special connection at the vigil Tuesday between the immigrants and their supporters.
“It really was a powerful experience. We arrived early. I was with another pastor and we waited in line with the people that were in line, but it was such a powerful experience for us to see the large gathering of accompanying ones come across the lawn and surround those that were in line,” Pries said. “This one was different ... because it was so cold, and I think there were more posters this time.”
Pastor Jonathan Heifner, of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Cedar Rapids attended the event with several members of his congregation. He agreed it was a different experience than past accompaniment events, with a higher turnout than he’s seen before, despite the cold weather.
“We’re in a time where there’s a lot of fear around ICE’s presence, for immigrants, so there’s certainly that fear that just looms.” Heifner said. “The idea of being with others is a crucial element to our faith and our understanding, and especially being with others at moments when it really matters, or when people feel isolated or vulnerable.”
The immigrant families who were accompanied to their appointments Tuesday are among many immigrants in Iowa and across the country who are worried about being detained and separated from their families. Trump, in his first two weeks in office, has signed more than 10 executive orders on immigration.
The Associated Press reported that from Jan. 23 through Jan. 28, ICE said it had made an average of 710 immigration arrests each day. That’s an increase from a daily average of 311 in a 12-month period through September under President Joe Biden.
Last Friday alone, ICE posted on social media that it had arrested 864 people.
Signs of support are seen during a protective accompaniment vigil outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in southwest Cedar Rapids on Tuesday. Escucha Mi Voz and the Iowa City Catholic Worker House accompanied 11 people, including three families, to the office for their immigration registrations. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Volunteers and organizers gather during a protective accompaniment vigil outside of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in southwest Cedar Rapids on Tuesday. Escucha Mi Voz and the Iowa City Catholic Worker House accompanied 11 people, including three families, to the office for their immigration registrations. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Alejandra Escobar (center), an organizer with Escucha Mi Voz speaks to the crowd as they gather during a protective accompaniment vigil outside of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in southwest Cedar Rapids on Tuesday. Escucha Mi Voz and the Iowa City Catholic Worker House accompanied 11 people, including three families, to the office for their immigration registrations. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
A man waves to the cheering supporters after coming out of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office following his immigration check-in at the office in southwest Cedar Rapids on Tuesday. Escucha Mi Voz and the Iowa City Catholic Worker House accompanied 11 people, including three families, during a protective accompaniment vigil to the office for their immigration registrations. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Are local agencies cooperating with ICE on immigration enforcement?
Eastern Iowa law enforcement agencies contacted by The Gazette said they have not been contacted by — and are not working with — ICE for immigration enforcement in the state. Some said they didn’t think they’d have the resources to help directly with ICE’s enforcement efforts if they were asked.
“As far as President Trump’s immigration policies, I’m not sure that they will have much direct impact on our operations,” Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner said. “While we hold cooperative working relationships with all our law enforcement partners at the local, county, state, and federal levels, our staffing levels do not provide us the manpower to add any sweeping changes to our operations.”
Jones County Sheriff Greg Graver said his office has no interest in doing immigration sweeps, although he said he wouldn’t refuse to help another agency if he’s asked directly and has the resources available.
“Our agency would not deny assistance, but it’s not something that we proactively do,” Graver said. “For us, it's resources, right? We're a small agency. We don't have a ton of resources, and so you have to determine what are your community needs, and safety comes first, and that a lot of time means enforcing crime and violent crime in your community, and that's where the focus is.”
The Iowa City Police Department, in a statement, said it is “not involved with matters involving immigration” and emphasized that “the mission of the Iowa City Police Department remains unchanged: to work with all members of the community, to protect with courage and compassion, and to empower all victims of crime.”
Cedar Rapids Police Chief David Dostal gave a similar statement, explaining that federal agencies have not reached out to the department for assistance with immigration enforcement and Cedar Rapids police don’t have any jurisdiction over such enforcement locally.
“In cases where cooperation with federal agencies is required, we will continue to fulfill those obligations keeping community safety and wellbeing our top priority,” Dostal’s statement reads.
The Iowa Department of Public Safety, when asked if Iowa State Patrol Officers or other public safety personnel might be helping with immigration enforcement, sent a statement that the department “is prepared to comply with Iowa law and directives regarding immigration enforcement while adhering to DPS policy and practice,” but did not clarify whether the department has been contacted by ICE officials.
The DPS’s immigration enforcement policy states that the department has no jurisdiction to independently enforce federal immigration laws, but may assist in investigations related to immigrants when working with other agencies. The department also won’t prohibit or discourage an officer or other department employee from assisting federal immigration officers, inquiring about the immigration status of someone under lawful detention or arrest, or sending, requesting, maintaining, and exchanging information about a person’s immigration status.
A request sent by The Gazette to ICE last week asking how many ICE officers are currently operating in Iowa and how many county jails in the state are able to hold ICE detainees has not been answered.
Where can immigration detainees be kept in Iowa?
ICE has two detention facilities in Iowa that it contracts with directly, according to its website — the Polk County Jail and the Pottawattamie County Jail. The agency also can keep detainees at county jails that have contracts to hold federal prisoners through the U.S. Marshals Service.
Linn County recently reinstated its intergovernmental agreement with the Marshals Service, after terminating it last year due to disagreements about the cost to house federal inmates.
“While we don’t have a housing agreement with ICE, they could piggyback on the USMS’s housing agreement, just as they had done previously,” Sheriff Gardner said. “However, when the USMS inmates are coupled with our own prisoners and the inmates that we are already holding for the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, that won’t leave much if any room for ICE to house prisoners in the Linn County Correctional Center.”
There are additional requirements that jails must follow when housing ICE detainees that don’t apply to other inmates, and some jails decline to take ICE detainees because of the extra strain the additional requirements can cause. The Iowa County Jail has a contract with the Marshals Service, but does not hold detainees for ICE, Sheriff Robert Rotter said.
“We did explore the possibility of holding for ICE many years ago. What we found was that ICE detainees are afforded many more rights and privileges than that of a U.S. citizen being held for any reason. Due to this, the manpower and costs on our end would have made holding for ICE uneconomical,” Rotter said.
In counties without ICE contracts, like Iowa County, undocumented immigrants will only end up in the local jail if they’ve been arrested for other criminal activity.
“Typically how it works is that if there’s an arrest made and it’s found that an individual doesn’t have legal status, then we contact ICE and then allow ICE to do their thing,” Tama County Sheriff Casey Schmidt said.
Tama County doesn’t hold any federal inmates due to limited space, and Schmidt said it’s rare for the jail to house someone whose citizenship status is in question. If they do have to contact ICE about an inmate, sometimes ICE will ask the jail to hold the individual until federal officers can pick them up.
Sheriff Graver, of Jones County, said his jail has a similar relationship with ICE, and estimated they see about five cases a year that end up involving immigration enforcement.
“I hear it from my community, and I’ve already heard it the last month or so, rumors about our agency coming out focused on immigration,” Graver said. “We don’t want our local community scared of the police. We want people to reach out to us, because we focus on the community. We want a safe community, and that is often targeting crime that’s occurring and not this other stuff. So, that’s the unfortunate part, that us as local officers have to deal with some of this on a local level, when you’ve got all of this noise.”
Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com
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