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

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

ICE, flush with new cash, is increasing raids in Iowa;
Upcoming Iowa layoffs and worker news;
A rural Iowa town bets on investing in the trades to keep workers from leaving.

Congress recently approved another $70 billion for immigration enforcement.

All six members of Iowa’s congressional delegation voted in favor of the funding, which was quickly signed into law by President Donald Trump. (I’m sure it’s totally not relevant, but corporations have been massively profiting from detainee labor.)

Since then, immigration advocates say detentions have increased across the country, with roughly 10,000 people detained just in the past week alone.

And that includes Iowa: Immigration advocates say there were four Iowans detained in June alone—and ICE even detained two people at work.

It’s this week’s top story.

Have thoughts? Reply and tell me.

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Amie Rivers

Newsletter Editor, Iowa Starting Line

Member, COURIER United (WGA East)

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Iowa lost 17% of its USDA staff in 2025, including nearly 19% of its Natural Resources Conservation Service and 8% of its Farm Service Agency staff, both of which help farmers with federal loans and other programs.
The rumor from Reddit is that the Iowa Health and Human Services Department is ordering a “return to office” for all workers. (Message me if you work there!)
Former Republican State Rep. Joe Mitchell defended Iowa’s cuts to unemployment benefits, saying the changes would encourage people to return to work. Yet the average job search now lasts five to six months nationwide, applications per opening have doubled since 2022, and many employers require four or more interview rounds. Oh, and work requirements don’t actually do that—Arkansas tried this already.
It’s now not enough to have a “medically frail” diagnosis to qualify for Medicaid—you now have to prove you can’t work. And the Trump administration is making states determine how to do this on their own. (Again, see above.)
Rob Sand said Iowa should raise its minimum wage and legalize marijuana: The Democratic candidate for governor argued both would help workers and boost the state’s budget.⁣
The GOP defunded Planned Parenthood, and clinic workers paid the price: In Iowa, 38 workers are now out of a job, with another dozen reassigned, after the Iowa City Health Center closed.
What would the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act do? Expand the H2-A visa to year-round jobs like meatpacking—which the United Food and Commercial Workers say would turn “dependable jobs into temporary ones,” and would “threaten the livelihoods of thousands of Americans, devastate entire communities, and threaten our food supply chain.”
Hiring is booming in the Cedar Rapids metro—but pay is not.
Iowa prisons don’t have air conditioning, which in the summer can be dangerous to inmates and prison workers alike. But the Iowa Department of Corrections just sold about $8 million in farmland—about the same price it would cost to bring A/C to the Anamosa and Mount Pleasant facilities.
There’s a reason we’re all in way more debt than we used to be a couple generations ago, and it has to do with this one Supreme Court decision in 1978.
There are a lot of reasons to be against data centers. Here’s one more.
Trump said Walmart was lowering the price of ground beef 15% on July 4. Even if they actually did (did they?), I bet you didn’t notice, because ground beef prices have gone up 75% since 2020.
USMCA was no better than NAFTA, said the International Association of Machinists in calling for a trade agreement that actually benefits workers.
Voting on a union: Seven full- and part-time and PRN registered nurses at Bettendorf Health Care Center will vote July 21 on whether or not to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 431.
Decertified a union: One hundred ninety-seven full-time, part-time, and PRN nurses with UnityPoint – St. Luke’s in Sioux City voted June 18, 71-80, to decertify their union, United Food and Commercial Workers. Read more here.

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

Wells Fargo in West Des Moines is laying off:
29 workers by Saturday,
1 worker by July 25,
43 workers by Aug. 22, and
20 by Sept. 5. Read more here.
Ryder Systems in Waterloo is laying off 153 workers by July 24, 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 July 24:
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.
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.

Iowa Western Community College in Atlantic will invest nearly $1 million in vocational degree programs, including training in manufacturing, construction, electrical and plumbing.

Supporters say the programs will help build the workforce and keep local people employed in their hometowns.