It’s Thursday, Apr. 24, 2025.

Amie here. 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. If his case isn’t rectified—if our country can continue to brazenly take people 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.”

Want to do something 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

Newsletter Editor, Iowa Starting Line

Member, COURIER UNITED/WGA East

Email me

Working class news you can use:

Workers Memorial Day is April 28, an annual remembrance put on by the AFL-CIO for those who died on the job in the past year. There are several events starting Friday through next week—including in Bettendorf, Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Des Moines, Dubuque, Iowa City, Keokuk, Mason City, Sioux City, and Waterloo—remembering Iowans lost on the job and advocating for better worker protections. Find them all here.
Speaking of worker protections, Trump and Musk just gutted them: Elon Musk is closing 11 OSHA offices (because DOGE was always just about kowtowing to corporate interests) AND gutting the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, both of which play a critical role in keeping America’s workers safe. Do something about it here. (Confined Space)
Ottumwa Teamsters ratify “best-ever” contract after strike: More than 100 workers with Teamsters Local 238 at the Keurig/Dr. Pepper plant in Ottumwa agreed to a new contract with their employer after a 12-day strike that started April 9. The new three-year collective bargaining agreement includes the workers in a Teamsters health insurance plan, guaranteed paid time off, and an 8% wage increase in the first year of the contract, with additional wage increases every year thereafter. “With this agreement, they won’t be able to work us non-stop anymore, so this was well worth the fight,” said Andy McCabe, a forklift driver at KDP Ottumwa. “Everything we did to come together and win this contract; it shows what happens when we stick together.”
Sued for not paying overtime: The former EMS director for the city of Eldora is suing the city for failing to pay her at least $100,000 in overtime. Are you being stiffed on the job? File a complaint here. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Garnishing wages for student loans is now a possibility for struggling borrowers, the Trump administration announced. (Common Dreams)
Get a job. No, we won’t help: Most Medicaid enrollees, nearly two-thirds, already work—just not in jobs with health benefits, which is why they need Medicaid. States like Iowa that are tying Medicaid to work requirements don’t seem to understand the rest of them aren’t lazy—they’re disabled, seniors, or otherwise doing unpaid caregiving work for others already. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Cedar Rapids Schools lay off staff: The district is eliminating 27 full-time jobs in its Educational Leadership and Support Center—and that’s on top of a previously announced layoff of 6% of its teachers and support staff. (IPR)
Iowa layoffs coming up in the next month:

– Lutheran Services of Iowa is laying off six workers in Des Moines, four workers in Sioux City, and two workers in Waterloo by Friday. It will lay off one more worker in Des Moines by June 27. Read more here.

– John Deere Des Moines Works in Ankeny is laying off 72 workers by Monday. Read more here.

– Ascent Professional Staffing in Muscatine is closing and laying off 32 workers by May 2.

– Corteva Agriscience in Johnston is laying off 44 workers by May 9.

– BHFO Inc. in Cedar Rapids is laying off 32 workers by May 15.

– RTX in Cedar Rapids is laying off four workers by May 15.

– Wells Fargo in West Des Moines is laying off 34 workers by May 18, 14 workers by June 1, and 46 workers by June 15.

– Pitney Bowes in Urbandale is closing and laying off 168 workers by May 19. Read more here.

– Michael’s Cookies in Clear Lake is closing and laying off 29 workers by May 23.

Before you punch out 🥊

Trump’s reasoning for tariffs is that it will bring manufacturing back to America, and that’s a good thing, because factory jobs provide a good living for folks.

Setting aside whether or not the tariffs will actually accomplish this, the only reason factory jobs were ever associated with a middle-class lifestyle is because of mass unionization. And Trump is hellbent on gutting unions, as you regularly read in this newsletter.

But we don’t have to theorize about what factory jobs without unions would mean; we only need to look to the South.

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