Statewide Iowa — Fears are rising among some immigrants in Iowa that the incoming Trump administration could force them to leave the country or at least make it harder for them to become U-S citizens.
Janet Toering, executive director of the Webster City-based group All Cultures Equal, says lifelong Iowa residents can’t fathom the terror that’s striking some of our undocumented neighbors.
In a worst-case situation, she says hundreds of undocumented immigrants in just one Iowa county could be forced to leave and a mass deportation would have a serious impact on the workforce.
Toering’s organization is devoted to helping immigrants with job opportunities, learning English and learning how to fit in. She says scripture instructs us to welcome strangers.
Obviously not all immigrants are Latino and not all latinos are immigrants, but the Latino population in northwest Iowa continues to grow, according to Census data released this fall. The Latino population in Lyon County increased by 652 percent between 2000 and 2015. The latest estimate is that Latinos make up 2.7 percent of Lyon County’s population. They make up 10.2 percent of Sioux County’s population, 7.2 percent of Osceola County’s population, and 4.6 percent of O’Brien County’s population.
Latinos make up just under six percent of Iowa’s population, making them the largest minority group in the state. Thirty-two percent of the Latinos in Iowa were not born in this county. Seventy-eight percent of them came to Iowa from Mexico.
