Welcome to Thursday’s Almanac, for and about Iowa’s workers.

If break time’s over, here’s the tl;dr:

ICE detained 1,779 Iowans in 2025, a new report shows;
Upcoming Iowa layoffs and worker news;
What would happen if 30% of us were unionized?

Nearly 1,800 Iowans were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2025 alone, with nearly 90% of them deported, according to a new report from a statewide immigrant advocacy group.

“That is gonna be probably really shocking for the wider public,” said Elena Casillas-Hoffman, spokesperson for the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice, a statewide immigration legal and advocacy organization based in Des Moines.

“There is, at times, a very large misconception that either, plainly, ICE isn’t in Iowa or ICE isn’t active in Iowa,” she added. “This report details quite thoroughly that ICE is absolutely active in Iowa.”

ICE arrests have kept climbing nationwide, reaching a new high of more than 1,500 per day in July.

Meanwhile, Decorah residents who want their elected officials to stop the carnage keep pushing for reforms, even if officials don’t listen.

And Iowa’s population is still stagnating, with too few workers.

It’s this week’s top story.

Have you personally known someone detained or deported? Reply and tell me.

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Amie Rivers

Newsletter Editor, Iowa Starting Line

Member, COURIER United (WGA East)

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Pretty please lower the hospital bills, Gov. Kim Reynolds is apparently asking University of Iowa Health Care after the Des Moines Register found thousands of patients were being charged more for cancer care. UIHC’s response? Take it up with the feds.
After a fifth of Iowans were forced to drop their ACA health insurance when federal subsidies expired, Iowa’s insurance carriers plan to raise premiums again next year, likely pricing out even more.
Privatizing TSA: The Des Moines “International” Airport will be one of three US airports piloting the new TSA Gold+ program, a fancy name that basically lets private contractors handle security screenings and technology, according to the American Federation of Government Employees. “The Trump administration’s clear objective is to ultimately privatize all aviation security screening functions,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley. “We don’t have to theorize about what that may look like because we have been through this before and witnessed the devastating and deadly consequences.”
Farmers already knew this, but a new report shows Iowa’s agricultural economy is in the midst of a multi-year downturn, with farm income down more than 50% between 2022 and 2024, and input prices through the roof. Iowa State University economics professor Chad Hart advised farmers to do what previous generations of farmers had done and “sort of [be] pinching that penny.” Lt. Gov. candidate Dave Muhlbauer, on the governor’s ticket with Rob Sand, said help should come from the top, since the downturn came from there, too: “Family farmers deserve leaders who will stand with them and know first-hand the struggles they face, not leave them to shoulder the burden alone,” he said.
Making jobs temporary again: Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Randy Feenstra both cosponsored the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act, which the United Farm Workers say would “massively expand the exploitative H-2A guest worker program to year-round positions, all while expanding the definition of agriculture to include non-agricultural employers and slashing US farm workers’ jobs and wages.” You can sign a petition here.
Social Security has six years of funding left before benefits start being slashed, if Congress does nothing. Several senators are trying to change that with the bipartisan PROMISE Act, which would attempt to put Social Security’s solvency to an actual vote. (Neither Sens. Chuck Grassley nor Joni Ernst is a cosponsor.)
Robots coming for our jobs: A rural school in New York is replacing a paraeducator with a humanoid robot.
Won a union: Seven full- and part-time and PRN registered nurses at Bettendorf Health Care Center voted to form a union, 6-0, and will join the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 431.

All information taken from Iowa Workforce Development’s WARN Act website. Read WARN Act and Iowa WARN Act criteria here.

Ryder Systems in Waterloo is closing and laying off 153 workers by Friday, with workers told they can apply to work for the new company, HODGE. Read more here.
UnityPoint Health is laying off 203 workers statewide by Friday:
1 worker at UnityPoint Clinic Multi-Specialty in Cedar Rapids,
3 workers at Iowa Methodist in Des Moines,
19 workers at Accountable Care in Des Moines,
76 workers at UnityPoint Health Thornton in Des Moines,
2 workers at Finley in Dubuque,
1 worker at Trinity Pain Management Center in Fort Dodge,
1 worker at Accendra Health in Grimes,
97 workers at Proxy Access in Hiawatha,
1 worker at Marshalltown Hospital in Marshalltown,
1 worker at St. Luke’s in Sioux City, and
1 worker at Allen Hospital in Waterloo.
Read more here, or in UnityPoint’s press release here.
Wells Fargo in West Des Moines is laying off:
1 worker by Saturday,
43 workers by Aug. 22,
20 workers by Sept. 5, and
20 workers by Sept. 19.
Read more here.
River Hills Community Health Center is closing two clinics in Centerville and Richland, and laying off 19 workers in Centerville and 5 workers in Richland by July 31. Read more here and here.
US Cellular offices within Appliance Plus Cellular stores are closing and laying off 35 workers statewide by July 31:
5 workers in Algona,
5 workers in Charles City,
5 workers in Dyersville,
5 workers in Independence,
3 workers in New Hampton,
4 workers in Oelwein,
1 worker in Waukon,
3 workers in Webster City, and
4 workers in West Union.
Read more here.
The Iowa Department of Management in Des Moines is laying off 192 workers by Aug. 3. Read more here.
Independence Premium Foods in Independence is laying off 41 workers by Aug. 9. Read more here.
Plastic Products Co. in West Branch is closing and laying off 77 workers by Aug. 14. Read more here.

What if the percentage of workers with a union in the 1950s was the same as today (roughly 30%)?

Wages would rise 14.5%, 25% more workers could afford health insurance, and more than a trillion dollars would return to workers from the wealthy, EPI found in a new report.