Iowa House passes bill to block undocumented immigrants from public assistance programs

DES MOINES — Iowa House Republicans passed legislation Thursday intended to crack down on the smuggling of undocumented immigrants into the state and prevent them from accessing public assistance programs.

House File 2608 passed 60-32 with all Democrats opposed.

The bill expands the verification process for public assistance benefits by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services to check the citizenship status of those applying under a push by Republicans to block undocumented immigrants from accessing taxpayer benefits.

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It also creates a new state crime of human smuggling. The bill would make it a felony to “encourage or induce a person to enter or remain” in the country in violation of federal law by “concealing, harboring, or shielding that person from detection.”

Catholic charities and religious orders that house and assist asylum-seekers have expressed concerns they could be targeted should the bill be signed into law.

The bill was amended to specify “a person commits the offense of smuggling of persons” if done “knowingly, for payment or some other benefit.”

Rep. Steve Holt, R-Denison, the lead Republican on the bill, said the law is aimed at people engaged in human smuggling, not churches or other organizations, and that the amendment added to the bill alleviates those concerns.

“I think we have prosecutorial discretion. I think we have law enforcement discretion, and I think the language is plenty tight,” Holt said.

He also noted the state already checks the citizenship status of those applying for public assistance benefits as a result of existing federal law. Holt, however, argued it was important to codify the practice in state law should that change.

Democrats said the bill was unnecessary and that concerns about immigration and border security need to be addressed at the federal level.

"I think we can all agree that the immigration system needs some work,“ said Rep. Lindsay James, D-Dubuque. ”There has been bipartisan legislation worked out across the line on the federal level that imploded because of the politics of Donald Trump and the Republican do-nothing Congress. We shouldn’t even be having this discussion today.“

House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, D-Windsor Heights, speaking to reporters before the House vote, echoed James.

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“So the bills like that that are out there are simply playing into a national narrative, national politics and trying to rile up a base,” Konfrst said. “That's not how we're supposed to write policy. We're supposed to write policy in a way that addresses what Iowans need. This bill doesn't do that.”

Rather, she said Republicans should be focused on improving and expanding access to mental health service and child care, and better funding public schools.

Republicans argued the ongoing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border has reached critical levels, with significant increases in fentanyl and other drug seizures and human trafficking they attributed to a surge in illegal border crossings.

Holt and Rep. Mark Thompson, R-Clarion, emphasized the urgent need for legislation to protect both Iowa residents and immigrants exploited by human smugglers and trafficked for sex or forced labor.

“Human smuggling is a business. It is a disgusting business, but it's a business,” Thompson said. “So it has supply and it has demand. The supply comes from mostly south of our border. … But some of that demand is right here,” he said of immigrants who come to Iowa to work on farms, at meatpackers and elsewhere.

“We're not doing anyone coming across our border any fair shake, any favors, by letting them come across and just come up to Iowa,” Thompson said, asserting their “immigration status is used against them as blackmail” to deny them a decent wage or should they complain about work conditions.

Creating a state crime for human smuggling will allow law enforcement to take action in the absence of sufficient enforcement of federal immigration laws at the U.S.-Mexico border, Holt said.

“It's a clear and present danger to our nation and our state,” Holt said. “ … The very real, profoundly serious crisis on our Southern border demands that we stand up as a state and protect our citizens and ourselves, and, perhaps, discourage human trafficking, labor trafficking, sex trafficking and all of the garbage that is happening on our Southern border and transferring into our state.”

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com