Iowa lawmakers advance bills to bar undocumented immigrants from benefits, in-state tuition

DES MOINES — Over the protests of immigrants and activists who filled Iowa State Capitol committee rooms this week, Republican lawmakers advanced bills that would put stricter limitations on undocumented immigrants.

The bills would make undocumented immigrants ineligible for in-state tuition and public assistance programs and create a new penalty for transporting or harboring undocumented immigrants.

Republicans said the bills would ensure that taxpayer money does not go to people who are not in the U.S. legally. Opponents of the bills said they would punish immigrant communities and instill fear in an already vulnerable population.

“Hardworking Iowa taxpayers should not be footing the bill for individuals who are not in the country legally through any public assistance program or tuition benefits,” Iowa Republican House Speaker Pat Grassley wrote in a newsletter this week. “Additionally, we cannot allow our state’s policies to essentially incentivize people to come to our country illegally. That would be unsustainable and unfair to those who do follow the proper process to immigrate legally.”

Removing in-state tuition for undocumented residents

House File 2128 would require that a person provide proof of U.S. citizenship or proof that they are “lawfully present” in the country to be considered for in-state tuition at Iowa’s public universities and community colleges.

Immigrants and activists speaking to an Iowa House subcommittee on Monday said the bill would deny education to a swath of Iowans who grew up and pay taxes in the state. According to estimates from the Migration Policy Institute, there were about 37,000 undocumented immigrants in Iowa as of 2019.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, created legal protections for some people born before 2007 who were brought into the U.S. illegally as children. Most undocumented graduating high school students today are not eligible for DACA, according to FWD.us, an immigration political advocacy organization.

Ari Davis was among the many people who spoke against the bill on Monday. She said she came to the U.S. from Mexico at age 3. She received DACA status and, paying in-state tuition, went to Des Moines Area Community College, then graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in criminal justice.

She said she has since started a family, bought a home in Iowa, and became a U.S. citizen two years ago.

“But I can assure you that I’ve been an American since I was 3 years old,” she said. “I’m here to defend the pursuit of happiness for other Americans who are lacking the legal status of American, but are American in every single other way.”

Representatives for Iowa’s public universities and community colleges said the bill would be an administrative challenge for colleges and universities that would need to inquire about citizenship of every prospective student. State universities’ current guidelines allow anyone who graduated from an Iowa high school to claim residency in the state for tuition purposes.

The bill was passed out of the subcommittee by Republican Reps. Skyler Wheeler of Hull and Taylor Collins of Mediapolis. Rep. Sami Scheetz, D-Cedar Rapids, voted against the bill.

Collins said it was, in part, an answer to the rising rates of unlawful border crossings under President Joe Biden.

“If you come to this country illegally, we are not going to subsidize your college education,” Collins said. “The problem is, we’ve had 7 million people come into this country illegally under President Joe Biden, and at some point we’re going to have to address that issue.”

  Buy Photo

Bill would limit public assistance, create penalties for ‘smuggling of persons’

Another proposed bill would require noncitizens to be legal residents in order to obtain public assistance through programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid. The bill would require noncitizens to submit documentation about their status and would require the state to use a federal tool to determine citizenship status.

Federal law already prohibits an undocumented immigrant from receiving public assistance benefits.

The bill, House File 2112, would also create a penalty for “smuggling of persons.” The bill would make transporting or harboring an undocumented person, with the intent to conceal them from law enforcement, a crime under state law.

Rep. Steve Holt, a Republican from Denison, who chaired the subcommittee on the bill, said Iowa State Patrol officers have reported being unable to detain a person who was transporting undocumented immigrants through the state.

The bill would make the crime punishable by a Class C felony, or a Class B felony if the smuggled person carries a risk of bodily injury or death, is under 18, or if the offender carries a firearm. It would be a class A felony if the smuggled individual became a victim of sexual abuse, suffered serious injury or died because of the action.

Opponents of the bill said the smuggling provisions of the bill would instill fear into immigrant communities and create a chilling effect for people who work with undocumented immigrants. No one at the subcommittee meeting spoke in favor of the bill.

Multiple people said they were worried the bill would criminalize driving an undocumented family member to the doctor or a coach transporting undocumented children to and from sporting events. Holt said the bill is not intended to outlaw those activities.

Opponents said the rules around public assistance are unnecessary and redundant. They said the bill would create more paperwork and potentially disincentivize immigrants who are eligible for assistance from applying, immigration and food security activists said.

“This bill would prolong those wait times and harm vulnerable populations. It would also create confusion and have a chilling effect, especially for mixed-status families — families where some members are U.S. citizens and others aren’t,” said Gabriel Saldaña, a community organizer with Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice.