What does Kilmar Abrego Garcia have to do with Iowa immigrants?

Iowans rally in opposition to SF 2340, a new immigration law that would undercut federal immigration law, on May 9, 2024. (Avery Staker/ Iowa Starting Line)

By Amie Rivers

April 25, 2025

I saw a few “Free Kilmar” signs at the latest protest I covered this weekend, and for good reason: Folks are worried about what it means that the Trump administration is deporting people directly to a foreign torture prison with the flimsiest justification, and with no trial whatsoever.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia came to this country at age 16 and is a SMART union member with a federal permit to work in the United States.

If his case isn’t rectified—if our country can continue to brazenly take people who are legally here from their homes and put them on planes directly to prisons without criminal charges or trials—it spells dire consequences for our democracy and human rights, and will particularly come down hardest on recent immigrants.

That’s a problem for us in Iowa, where recent immigrants are the entire reason our state is (barely) growing at all. They’re a not-insignificant part of our workforce, particularly in meatpacking, construction, and other difficult jobs.

They came to this country, and to Iowa, for the promise of work and a better life than they left behind—like many of my own ancestors did. They remember when ICE came for Postville, and how that devastated the entire community for years. And they’re scared to death that they or their families, friends, or coworkers will be targeted next.

Chuy Renteria, a Substacker from Southeast Iowa, put this in context:

“To some people, I look like a mad, tattooed brown man. And more and more, that seems like all the justification one needs. … I can’t afford to be complacent to the atrocity of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s kidnapping and illegal detention on foreign soil. Because I see the short leap it takes to get to me.”

What’s being done about it?

The Iowa City Catholic Worker House is hosting a May Day March “to stop deportations and keep families together” next Thursday, May 1, from 6-8 p.m.; you can learn more and RSVP here.
If you want to “learn how to respond to ICE enforcement, support impacted families, and organize local defense,” sign up for their Rapid Response Team Training here.
There’s also a new lawsuit challenging ICE’s revocation of student visas at the University of Iowa.

Amie Rivers

Amie Rivers is Iowa Starting Line's newsletter editor. She writes the weekly Worker’s Almanac edition of Iowa Starting Line, featuring a roundup of the worker news you need to know. Previously, she was an award-winning journalist at the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier; now, she very much enjoys making TikToks and memes and getting pet photos in her inbox.

Have a story tip? Reach Amie at [email protected]. For local reporting in Iowa that connects the dots, from policy to people, sign up for Amie's newsletter.

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