Iowa's immigrant population
Iowa's immigrant population has historically played a crucial role in shaping the state's culture, economy, and community structures. Initially, Iowa attracted settlers from eastern states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, who contributed to its agricultural development. The state's growth was further fueled by the construction of railroads in the mid-19th century, which helped facilitate trade and the influx of immigrants, particularly Germans, Swedes, and Danes. The coal mining industry in the early 20th century saw additional waves of immigrants, including Italians, who sought work and stability.
In recent decades, Iowa has seen a significant increase in its immigrant population, particularly from Latin America, with Mexicans constituting a large portion of this group. Despite being only 4.5 percent of the total population, Iowa's foreign-born residents grew by 52 percent from 2000 to 2013, driven largely by labor needs in the meatpacking and agricultural sectors. Political attitudes toward immigration have shifted, with recent legislative proposals reflecting a more conservative stance on undocumented immigrants, despite the ongoing labor shortages faced by key industries. As of 2021, Iowa's foreign-born population included notable communities from India, China, and Southeast Asia, highlighting the diverse contributions of immigrants to the state's socio-economic landscape.
Subject Terms
Iowa's immigrant population
SIGNIFICANCE: The interactive relationship between the land, immigration, and settlement patterns in the Iowa region has influenced its history, culture, and institutions. Many of the ethnic languages have faded with the third generations of immigrants, but the core values of family and community remain an ideological stronghold in Iowa.
Iowa’s first settlers came from the eastern and Old Northwest states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, Kentucky, and Virginia. These groups often resided and lived in one other state before finally moving on to Iowa. Because there was a lack of timber in many parts of the state, many settlers constructed sod houses.
By the mid-nineteenth century, settlers were pouring into the region. Iowans began to plan the first railroad in the state with the development of the Illinois Central, while the Chicago and Northwestern eventually reached Council Bluffs near Omaha. Council Bluffs became the main eastern hub for the Union Pacific. A few years later, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific completed a line across the state for trading and shipping products and crops. The state eventually had five railroad lines, which contributed significantly to the growth of the agricultural sector for immigrant farmers.
Hoping to attract more foreign-born settlers, state government officials arranged the publication of a booklet titled Iowa: The Home for Immigrants (1870). Promoting the social, political, educational, and physical attributes of the state, the ninety-six-page booklet was issued in English, Dutch, and Swedish editions. In 1870, the state’s population rose from 675,000 to 1,194,000. Germans constituted the largest ethnic group. Many Germans took up such professions as shopkeepers, newspaper editors, schoolteachers, bankers, and craftsmen. Other groups whom Iowa attracted from Europe included Swedes, Danes, Hollanders, and Britons. Members of these groups tended to concentrate within specific counties. For example, Scandinavians settled in Winneshiek and Story counties, Swedes in Boone County, and Danes in southwestern Iowa.
Twentieth Century Developments
After 1900, a coal mining industry began to emerge in Buxton, located in the state’s northern Monroe County. Many southern and eastern immigrant groups went into the industry’s low-skilled jobs because they did not require much training. Italian men often immigrated to the United States alone, working in the coal industry until they saved enough money to send for their families. By 1925, Iowa’s coal industry was beginning a steady decline. By the mid-1950s, only a few underground mines remained in the state. After World War II, the state’s economy improved with a rise in the manufacturing sector, which manufactured such products as appliances, fountain pens, food products, and farm implements.
The late twentieth century saw an influx of Hispanic immigrants in Iowa. Many of them were undocumented. Iowa's meatpacking plants were a frequent target for raids by immigration officers in the first decade of the twenty-first century. In May 2008, federal immigration authorities raided Agriprocessors, Inc, the nation’s largest kosher meatpacking plant, and rounded up 389 illegal immigrants who faced deportation. The raid also found that the plant used underage workers and abused Iowa labor laws in other ways. The frequency of these raids declined in the 2010s, however.
Iowa's immigrant population remained on the lower side, at 4.5 percent of the total population, but grew by 52 percent between 2000 and 2013, well above the national average rate. These immigrants largely worked in the meatpacking plants and on farms, providing a useful supplement to the workforce of a state with an aging population. Most of the immigrants were from Latin America, primarily Mexico; significant groups of Indian and Chinese immigrants were also present. In 2018, Iowa’s foreign-born population totaled 175,137, 6 percent of the state’s total population. Figures from 2021 showed a slight decrease at 174,000, which may be attributed to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Twenty-six percent of immigrants in Iowa were from Mexico, with significant populations from India, China, Vietnam, and Thailand as well. There were 50,000 undocumented immigrants in the state as of 2016.
Twentieth-Century Polarization
Once a mainstay of the Democratic Party, by the mid-2020s, Iowa voters gravitated toward the conservative elements of the Republican Party. As such, Iowans became active in the politics of the US southern border with Mexico, nearly 2,000 miles away. A hot button topic of the 2024 election was immigration. As such, in 2024, Iowa proposed to adopt controversial legislation that allowed the arrest and detention of immigrants who entered the United States without proper documentation. In doing so, Iowa modeled its law after a legislative proposal that had run afoul in Texas courts, the state of its origination. Other conservative-leaning states, such as Idaho, proposed to adopt the same types of legislation.
This legislation countered the acknowledged need in Iowa for immigrant labor for several of its key industries. Labor for much of Iowa's agricultural production stemmed from immigrants. In 2021, Iowa's largest producer of pork, Iowa Select Farms, advocated for the issuance of year-long visas as seasonal employment visas were insufficient to supply sufficient workers to meet industry labor needs. Spokespersons for Iowa Select Farms predicted the closure of Iowa farms and packing plants should labor requirements not be met.
Similar environments existed in states other than Iowa. In 2021, across the United States, the food and agricultural sector contributed $2.7 trillion to the nation's annual GDP, or about 20 percent.
Bibliography
Barabak, Mark Z. "In Iowa Farm Town, Immigration Debate Yields Surprising Views." Los Angeles Times, 22 Jan. 2016, www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-iowa-trump-latinos-20160122-story.html. Accessed 18 Oct. 2016.
Dinnen, Steve. “How an Immigration Raid Changed a Town: Tiny Postville, Iowa, Struggles to Regain Its Footing One Year After the Largest Immigration Sweep in U.S. History.” Christian Science Monitor, May 31, 2009.
Eller, Donnelle, and Stephen Gruber-Miller. "Iowa’s Largest Pork Producer Urges Year-Round Visas for Foreign Workers to Meet Labor Shortage." Des Moines Register, 21 July 2021, www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2021/07/21/iowa-select-farms-immigrant-worker-visas-senate-grassley-usda-vilsack/8043491002/. Accessed 12 Sept. 2024.
"Foreign Born Population 2021." World Population Review, 2024, worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/immigrants-by-state. Accessed 12 Sept. 2024.
"How Many Immigrants Are in Iowa?" USAFacts, usafacts.org/answers/how-many-immigrants-are-in-the-us/state/iowa/. Accessed 12 Sept. 2024.
"Immigrants in Iowa." American Immigration Council, 6 Aug. 2020, www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/immigrants-in-iowa. Accessed 14 Mar. 2023.
"Iowa." Map the Impact of Immigration across the Nation, Partnership for a New American Economy, 2013, www.maptheimpact.org/state/iowa. Accessed 18 Oct. 2016.
Iowa: The Home for Immigrants—Being a Treatise on the Resources of Iowa. Des Moines, Iowa: Mills, 1870.
Michaud, Marie-Christine. From Steel Tracks to Gold-Paved Streets: The Italian Immigrants and the Railroad in the North Central States. New York, Center for Migration Studies, 2005.
"New Americans in Iowa." American Immigration Council, 1 Jan. 2015, www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/new-americans-iowa. Accessed 18 Oct. 2016.
Stellingwerff, Johan. Iowa Letters: Dutch Immigrants on the American Frontier. Translated by Walter Lagerwey. Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans, 2004.