116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Cedar Rapids says corrected map shows ICE fence will be built on federal property, not city right of way
Protesters pushed back against fence plans this week, arguing it will infringe on their First Amendment rights
Oct. 9, 2025 5:59 pm
The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
CEDAR RAPIDS — A seven-foot fence that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is planning to erect in front of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Cedar Rapids — in an ongoing dispute with protesters over lawn space in front of the building — will not require a permit after the city of Cedar Rapids said it has discovered an error in the property record that puts the fence on federal property.
Last month, the federal agency began blocking off the front lawn of the building with police tape in response to protests against immigration enforcement, organized by Iowa City nonprofit Escucha Mi Voz.
For most of this year, volunteers with the nonprofit have been showing up at the Cedar Rapids office to provide support and resources to immigrants who are attending check-in appointments with ICE.
Last week, as the disagreement over where the protesters should be allowed to stand grew, Escucha Mi Voz sent a letter to city leaders pointing out that, according to Linn County property records, most of the lawn is city-owned public right of way. The letter asked the city to force DHS to move the tape line back.
In response, DHS requested a temporary obstruction permit to build a seven-foot tall fence about six feet into the public right of way in front of the building. The permit also outlined plans from the federal agency to build a ten-foot tall fence on federal property along the side of the building.
City of Cedar Rapids staff granted the permit, which would have expired in April, spurring protesters to express their frustration with the decision during public comments at the Cedar Rapids City Council meeting Tuesday. Protesters requested that the city hold a public forum on the issue before granting the permit.
“They can put a fence on their own property … There’s no need for them to obstruct the public right of way,” Rev. Jonathan Heifner of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Cedar Rapids, who works with Escucha Mi Voz, said during public comments. “Is there ever a time that a public hearing would be more important than this? This is about the First Amendment. This is about our right, your citizens’ rights, to be safe, to have our voices heard. I suspect you would want the perspective of your citizens on a matter that important.”
Wednesday evening, the city issued a news release stating staff had discovered “an anomaly in the property boundaries” around the federal building, which negates the need for a permit to build the seven-foot fence. The planned location for the fence is already on federal property.
The release states that while working on the obstruction permit, city staff noticed that the public right of way around the building seemed larger than the public right of way on other, nearby properties.
“Staff performed a detailed review, tracing the correct boundary to the 1974 recorded deed. Staff confirmed the boundary had been misinterpreted in digital mapping tools and verified this through subsequent documentation, including a 2009 retracement survey and a 2018 easement document,” the release states.
“The City coordinated with Linn County to correct the official records and the parcel has now been updated in the Linn County GIS system. As a result, the location of the fence proposed in the permit application will be entirely on private property and an obstruction permit is no longer required”
Escucha Mi Voz released its own statement Wednesday, expressing skepticism about the validity of the property error.
“Let’s be clear: this isn’t a ‘mapping correction,’ it’s political cowardice,” Escucha Mi Voz member and Cedar Rapids resident Abby Long-Williams said in the release. “When ICE wanted a fence to hide deportations, the City of Cedar Rapids moved the line to make it happen. That’s not protecting residents, that’s bending over backwards for Trump and enabling ICE to cut off immigrants from the resources and support they need to survive.”
Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com
Daily Newsletters