Des Moines, Iowa (RI) — Iowa police and sheriff’s departments would be required to enforce any federal order to detain someone suspected of being in the country illegally under a bill advancing in the Iowa House.
During a hearing on the bill, a lobbyist for the Iowa Police Chiefs Association said the bill would add more responsibilities to departments already struggling with tight budgets and limited staff. Mike Tupper, who recently retired after serving as Marshalltown’s police chief, says local officers already work with their federal partners to address legitimate public safety concerns.
John Noble of Des Moines says the bill is a distraction from Iowa’s real problems, like a rising cancer rate and a declining education system.
Vanessa Marcano Kelly, board chair of the Iowa Movement for Migrant Justice, directly criticized the bill’s sponsors.
Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, responded.
Holt says there are criminals who came across the border illegally and some of them are in Iowa.
Republican Representative Skyler Wheeler says an illegal immigrant recently stabbed two people in Hull, his hometown.
The bill requires Iowa law enforcement agencies to sign a memorandum, pledging to cooperate with federal agencies enforcing immigration laws. According to the ACLU of Iowa, by Wednesday night 157 jurisdictions in the United States had signed the memo and agreed to have local officers serve federal immigration warrants and jail suspected illegal aliens.
