It’s Thursday, June 5, 2025.
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is raiding workplaces across the country, showing up in tanks and wearing tactical gear just to arrest low-wage workers without criminal records.
Deportations in this country aren’t new, but these actions are made worse by Trump, who is trying to give police even more immunity and less oversight, paving the way for human rights abuses. (Iowa Republicans also want less oversight.)
ICE’s deportees include those fighting for better working conditions, continuing Trump’s and Project 2025’s goal of going after worker rights for the benefit of corporations. Their fellow workers are fighting back—and judges are cracking down on many of ICE’s arrests. And Trump’s attacks on temporary protected status, or TPS—affecting workers who had otherwise been here legally—are already affecting not only workers, but the broader economy.
In Iowa, only one law enforcement agency—the Iowa Department of Public Safety—has a 287(g) agreement with ICE, which deputizes them to carry out deportations.
But that’s not enough: The National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) recently threatened county sheriffs across the country to sign 287(g) agreements or risk being listed publicly as “sanctuary jurisdictions.”
Dubuque County Iowa Sheriff Joseph Kennedy sent his county supervisors a letter telling them he would not sign one, and warned it could put a target on their back.
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But as of the end of May, no Iowa communities have been named to Trump’s list—and the outcry forced not only the NSA to reverse course, but for the “sanctuary jurisdiction” list to be taken down entirely.
“Dubuque County Sheriff Kennedy’s principled stance should serve as a model for all county sheriffs to follow,” said Alejandra Escobar of Escucha Mi Voz Iowa, an immigration rights group which mobilized its members to send more than 800 emails to the NSA.
The group isn’t stopping there: They’re asking Iowans to call Iowa DPS Commissioner Stephan Bayens at 515-725-6182, and Gov. Kim Reynolds at 515-281-5211, to demand they disband the Iowa ICE Task Force entirely.
“It’s clearer than ever that local organizing is the strongest antidote to the politics of mass deportations,” said Escucha Mi Voz Iowa member Ninoska Campos. “Sustained people power is how we protect our families and defend our constitutional rights.”
Have you spotted ICE in Iowa? Email me.
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Amie Rivers
Newsletter Editor, Iowa Starting Line
Member, COURIER UNITED, WGA East
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They said giving our budget surplus to the wealthy would be a good thing: But it turns out things like not funding vital services and cutting public schools is driving our economy into the ground (see the layoffs list below). Who would have guessed? (KCRG, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)
- Trump is doubling steel and aluminum tariffs, even though the US is the world’s largest steel importer, importing 26.2 million metric tons of steel in 2024 from 79 countries and territories. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
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Gonna need a few more of those: Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig was pretty happy he got Vietnam to agree to buy $800 million worth of Iowa exports like soybeans and pork. But that’s a drop in the bucket: China, which has pulled the vast majority of its exports from the US entirely after Trump’s tariffs, bought $3.1 billion from Iowa alone in 2023. (Radio Iowa)
- Tariff pushback: Iowa small business owners and farmers are saying they’re being priced out of goods and warned it will get worse unless elected officials actually act to end Trump’s tariffs. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
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No, Trump can’t disband the TSA union: A judge said the Trump administration only offered a “threadbare justification” for stripping 47,000 airport security officers of their union, allowing it to stay in place for now. (HuffPost)
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No, Trump can’t disband Job Corps: Trump tried getting rid of Job Corps, a US Department of Labor program started in 1962 that trains 50,000 young people each year. But after pushback, a judge has halted it for now. (CBS News, IAM, Reuters)
- Unemployment for striking workers expands: Washington is now the third state, after New York and New Jersey, that grants unemployment benefits to workers on lawful strikes. (KING 5)
📧 What do you think of granting unemployment to strikers? Reply and tell me.
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Iowa layoffs coming up in the next month:
– Eckerd Connects in Denison, a Job Corps site, is closing and laying off 115 workers by June 13. It’s unclear if a judge’s reversal of Trump’s Job Corps decision will stop the closure. Read more here.
– Winnebago Industries is laying off 196 workers at four plants by June 13: 20 in Charles City, 128 in Forest City, 30 in Lake Mills, and 18 in Waverly. Read more here.
– Wells Fargo in West Des Moines is laying off 46 workers by June 15, 41 workers by June 29, and 24 workers by July 14.
– Chevron USA/Renewable Energy Group in Ames is laying off 70 workers by June 18. Read more here.
– Hy-Vee Short Cuts Facility in Chariton is closing and laying off 129 workers by June 24.
– Hy-Vee Fresh Commissary in Ankeny is closing and laying off 332 workers by June 24. Read more about both Hy-Vee closures here.
– Lutheran Services of Iowa in Des Moines is laying off one worker by June 27.
– Accelerate 360 Distribution in nearby Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is laying off 35 workers by June 28. Read more here.
– ASM Global in Dubuque is laying off 160 workers by June 30. Read more here.
– Forte Openings Solutions in Mason City is closing and laying off 93 workers at two locations by June 30. Read more here.
– Sodexo in Decorah is closing and laying off 130 workers by June 30. Read more here.
– Orient-Macksburg Community School District in Orient is closing and laying off 36 workers by July 1. Read more here.
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Justin Putzier, an Iowa content creator, loves racing and motor sports. He’s been to race tracks all over the Midwest, and interviews current and former racers on his YouTube channel, “JP’s Full Throttle.” And he does it all with cerebral palsy, a disorder that affects body movement and muscle coordination.
“I do have CP,” he said. “[But] I want to come across as someone very interesting that might have very interesting questions.”
Watch on:
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