Deportations in Iowa have jumped since President Trump started his second term.
Data uncovered by the Deportation Data Project shows more than 1,600 people were deported from January 2025 through early March. That’s three times more than when President Biden was in office.
Elena Casillas-Hoffman of the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice says it’s been a challenging time for immigrants.
“Individuals are finding that they have little to no other resources to fight their cases. Potentially, individuals had a status and lost that status, not by anything that they did, but because the government pulled that out from underneath them," she said.
Casillas-Hoffman says the true numbers are likely higher. That’s because the federal government has not released complete information on arrests and deportations.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security told IPR News that nearly 70 percent of all ICE arrests involve someone with criminal charges and 3 million people were deported nationwide. However, specific information for Iowa wasn’t released.
