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Iowa lawmakers table two immigration enforcement bills
House, Senate Republican leaders unable to agree on separate proposals
Mar. 13, 2024 5:42 pm, Updated: Mar. 14, 2024 8:13 am
DES MOINES — Two Republican bills relating to immigration enforcement in Iowa were halted this week after they failed to garner support from fellow statehouse Republicans.
An Iowa House Republican bill that would have created a new state crime of human smuggling and penalized individuals who transport or harbor undocumented immigrants in some cases — a proposal that was opposed by advocates for charities and shelters — was stopped in the Republican-led Iowa Senate.
And an Iowa Senate bill that would have required businesses to use the E-Verify program to ensure all employees are legal U.S. residents — which was opposed by business groups — will not advance in the Republican-led Iowa House.
The Republicans who chair the Iowa House and Iowa Senate judiciary committees confirmed the proposals’ legislative deaths Wednesday.
Rep. Steve Holt, a Republican from Denison who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, said a significant concern he had with the E-Verify proposal is that on a second offense it would have revoked a business’ license to operate in Iowa.
“That doesn’t seem like a reasonable approach,” Holt told reporters Wednesday.
The E-Verify bill, Senate File 108, earlier this year passed the Iowa Senate on a 30-17 vote, with only Republicans supporting it.
“There’s also people concerned that E-Verify puts an additional burden on business. There’s also concerns that E-Verify doesn’t necessarily do what people believe that it does in terms of verifying (a worker’s) legitimate right to be employed,” Holt added. “Those are the concerns that I have over on my side.”
State Sen. Brad Zaun, a Republican from Urbandale who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the potential for unintended consequences was the chief concern for the House-passed human smuggling bill.
“There was some unintended consequences with the bill. And it needed work. So that’s why I pulled the bill,” Zaun told reporters. “In the (bill’s) language, it was my interpretation, as well as some of the people on the committee, that there was some unintended consequences.”
Advocates had expressed concern that the bill could penalize charities and shelters that attempt to aid immigrants. Those advocates said they do not always know an immigrant’s legal status before offering them help.
House Republicans had attempted to address those concerns by placing in the bill language that said arrests could not be made at a church, shelter or school. And Holt said he had expressed a willingness to amend the bill to make the language more palatable to Senate Republicans.
The bill, House File 2608, passed the House last week on a 60-32 vote with only Republican support. The bill also prohibits undocumented immigrants from receiving public assistance; that prohibition is already in federal law.
Holt said he found it “deeply concerning” that the bill did not advance in the Senate and said he will consider adding the language to another immigration-related bill that still is eligible for consideration.
“The bottom line is our law enforcement needs to have tools — when ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) refuses to cooperate — to be able to deal with human smuggling and the trafficking that’s going on coming from the invasion on our southern border,” Holt said. “I’m extremely disappointed that they chose not to advance that legislation.”
Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com
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