Iowa increased by five percent, or almost 150,000 people, between 1990 and 2000.

Iowa, not traditionally thought of as a state of high immigration, is nevertheless beginning to feel the effects of current mass immigration policies.

When Iowa Governor Vilsack pushed a plan to turn some Iowa towns into “immigration magnets,” thousands of citizens protested due to concerns about population growth, higher taxes, and strains on local jails and schools, and the plan was eventually dropped.4/, 5/ A Des Moines Register poll found that 58 percent of Iowans oppose a policy of encouraging immigration.6/

Foreign-Born Population 

Iowa’s foreign-born population increased by about 33 percent between 2000 and 2006. During that period Iowa gained about 30,000 immigrants, bringing the total number of foreign-born residents in the state to over 121,000.

Environmental and Quality of Life Profile

Wages and Working Conditions: Iowa meatpacking and processing plants that subsist on immigrant labor have created abusive workplaces 7/ and depressed wages. 8/ Meatpacking had the highest injury and illness rate of any industry in America during the 1980s—well ahead of poultry processing and more than three times great than the overall manufacturing average.

Disappearing open space: Through population growth and consequent development, Iowa is losing its rural character and open farmland; according to the Iowa Agricultural Statistical Survey, Iowa farms are disappearing at a rate of about 1,000 a year.9/ Each year, Iowa loses 13,800 acres of open space and farmland due to development.10/ Iowa has already lost 72 percent of its original forest coverage, 11/ and due to loss of habitat, over 50 animal and 60 plant species are endangered in the state. Of Iowa’s original prairie land, which many endangered species need to survive, 90 percent is gone, and the largest piece that remains is only 240 acres.12/ Other habitats for endangered species are suffering a similar fate: 95 percent of Iowa’s original wetlands and gone, along with 99 percent of its prairie marshes.13/

A study of urban sprawl between 1970 and 1990 that calculated the impact of population increase and per capita land use found that 50.6 square miles of additional land were consumed by urban sprawl in the Des Moines metropolitan area, and 36.2 percent of that sprawl was attributable to population increase. In the Omaha, Nebraska area, which crosses into Iowa, sprawl consumed an additional 41.8 square miles and population increase accounted for 41.6 percent of the increase. 14/

Traffic: As population growth put more traffic on the roads, the average commute for Iowa residents increased 14 percent during the 1990s, from 16.2 minutes to 18.5 minutes in 2000.15/,16/  More than a quarter (28%) of Iowa's major urban roads are congested and  more than one-third (35%) of Iowa's major roads are in poor or mediocre condition. Vehicle travel on Iowa's highways increased 35 percent from 1990 to 2003.Driving on roads in need of repair costs Iowa motorists $568 million a year in extra vehicle repairs and operating costs --- $287 per motorist. 17/

In the Omaha, Nebraska-Iowa area, travelers experience and annual delay of 23 hours. 18/.  Seven percent of Iowans have a commute that is 45 minutes or more. 19/

In Des Moines, growing concern over traffic congestion has forced local government and business to form a Traffic Management Association, whose goal is to reduce the rush hour jams that are hampering the city’s economy.20/

Sprawl: Concern is rising in Iowa about multiplying costs of urban sprawl—loss of farmland and natural areas, urban-center deterioration, tax-base erosion, duplication of infrastructure, and higher taxes for construction and upkeep. In 2000, an Iowa State University poll, found that more than 70 percent of respondents see conversion of farmland and natural areas as a serious problem.21/ Some of Iowa’s larger cities have doubled in physical size since 1975.

Increased residential development due to population growth and sprawl threatens the state’s fiscal solvency. Altoona, Wauke, and Indianola found that they pay $1.12 to service residential developments for every dollar those developments generate in taxes.22/

Crowded housing: In 2005 over 15,000 Iowa households are defined as crowded or severely crowded by housing authorities. 23/ Studies show that a rise in crowded housing often correlates with an increase in the number of foreign-born.24/, 25/ Iowa’s housing shortage is magnified in its small towns, which are experiencing influxes of immigrants seeking work at local agricultural processing plants; in such towns, immigrants living eight or ten to an apartment is not uncommon.26/ The GAO has confirmed that in communities with meatpacking plants, immigrant workers frequently double up in order to afford housing.27/

Affordable housing: As population increases, the affordable housing supply often drops. According to the Iowa Commission on Latino Affairs, large immigrant families have led to a lack of affordable housing in destination communities like Marshalltown.28/ In Dubuque, the need for affordable housing is so pressing that the city council is giving financial off-sets to developers willing to create some.29/

A GAO report found that the immigration of workers for meatpacking plants affected the affordability of housing in their communities. For example, in some communities, average rent rose 30 percent for an apartment and 29 percent for a two-bedroom trailer between 1990 and 1997.30/

Poverty: In 2005 18.5 percent of immigrants in Iowa have incomes below the poverty level, a 22.2 percent increase since 2000. Among non-citizens, the rate climbs to 22.2 percent.31/ Wages in Iowa are now among the lowest in the nation.32/ Because of the availability of cheap labor through mass immigration, the Iowa meatpacking industry, formerly a middle-class employer, slashed wages and is now the most dangerous form of employment in the state, with a turnover rate of 80 percent a year at some plants.33/

Health Care: The poverty of many immigrant patients weighs heavily on Iowa hospitals. At Buena Vista county hospital, which began to pay for translators on its staff in 1997, uncompensated health care constitutes 25 percent of the total services. Buena Vista County social services are provided to “…a diverse ethnic population, making communication difficult and time-consuming.” 34/ The illegal immigrant population is likely to account for a significant share of uncompensated care because it is ineligible for Medicare or Medicaid coverage. At Buena Vista’s Storm Lake, workers at the IBP meatpacking plant don’t get health insurance until they’ve worked at the plant for six months; as a result, the county’s medical services are under “tremendous pressure,” according to City Supervisor Jim Gustafson. Buena Vista had a 63 percent increase in Medicaid claims between 1990 and 1996. 35/

Education: The number of Limited English Proficient students in Iowa, a side effect of immigration and an indicator of lack of assimilation, rose 135 percent between 1994 and 2002, and over fifteen percent in 2005-2006 alone. 36/, 37/

In immigrant-heavy Dubuque, many of the elementary schools are housing 10 to 30 percent more students than they are designed for.38/, 39/ In Waukee, population increase is forcing the construction of a new elementary school and middle school.40/

In Waterloo, the elementary school requires two full-time translators.41/ In Marshalltown, the children of immigrants brought by meatpacking plants account for 25 percent of the student body.42/

Water: Between 2000 and 2006, Iowa’s foreign-born population increased by 23.3 percent.⁴³ That compares with a 1.2 percent increase in the native-born population and that includes the children born to immigrants. When the U.S-born children of immigrants are included, immigration accounts for 69.2 percent of the state’s overall growth during that time.⁴⁴ By 2050 the state’s population is expected to rise from 3.0 million in 2006 to over 3.5 million.⁴⁵ Iowa has a daily, per-capita water demand of 130.9 gallons.⁴⁶

Solid Waste: Iowa generates 1.16 tons of solid waste per capita. 47/

Illegal Residents

Iowa’s meatpacking industry is dependent on foreign workers, many of whom are illegal aliens; without them it would have to raise wages and improve working conditions.48/ Meatpackers like IBP do direct recruiting in Mexico with radio ads, paying a private bus company to transport workers to its plants.49/

In 1998 and 1999, Storm Lake’s county, Buena Vista, asked IBP, owner of the local meatpacker plant and employer of most of the town’s immigrants, to help pay to operate the jail, to build a new jail and to provide health care benefits to its production workers. IBP refused.50/

 Endnotes:

1. "FAIR estimate based on Census Bureau data from the Current Population Survey"
2. "Estimates of the Unauthorized Migrant Population for States based on the March 2005 CPS", Pew Hispanic Center.
3. Martin, Jack. “Breaking the Piggy Bank: How Illegal Immigration is Sending Schools into the Red,” A Report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
4. Opposition to Immigration Plan Growing,” Associated Press, July 6, 2001.
5. Jennifer Dukes Lee, “Vilsack Downplays Immigrant Recruiting,” Des Moines Register, July 24, 2001.
6. “Iowa Recruits Immigrants to Boost Population,” Associated Press, September 4, 2000
7. Mike Wilson, “Fired Migrant Workers Tell of Poor Packing Plant Conditions,” Associated Press, August 24, 2001.
8. “Lawsuit Accuses IBP of Recruiting Illegal Immigrants,” Associated Press, March 19, 2002.
9. Rick Smith, “Once Mostly Rural, Iowa Turning Urban,” Associated Press, May 28, 2002.
10. Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, “State Rankings by Acreage and Rate of Non-Federal Land Developed.”
11. Iowa Association of Naturalists, Iowa Woodlands, Iowa’s Biological Community Series, January 2002.
12. Iowa Association of Naturalists, Iowa Habitat Loss and Disappearing Wildlife, Iowa Environmental Series, September 1998.
13. Iowa Association of Naturalists, Iowa Wetlands, Iowa’s Biological Community Series, January 2002.
14. Beck, Roy and Leon Kolankiewicz, “Weighing Sprawl Factors in Large U.S. Cities,” NumbersUSA, March 2001.
15. “Table DP-1-4, Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000,” Census 2000, U.S. Census Bureau.
16. “Table DP-1-4, Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 1990,” 1990 Census, U.S. Census Bureau.
17. Report Card for America's Infrastructure 2005," American Society of Civil Engineers.
18. "The 2005 Urban Mobility Report", Texas Transportation Institute.
19. “U.S. Population 2007 Data Sheet,” Population Reference Bureau.
20. Mike Glover, “Groups Call for Transit Spending, Sprawl Controls,” Associated Press, November 13, 2001.
21. Jay Howe, “Urban Sprawl: We Ignore Smart Growth at Our Peril,” Des Moines Register, February 8, 2001.
22. 1000 Friends of Iowa, Ten Top Things Adversely Affected by Urban Sprawl, 2000.
23. Selected Housing Characteristics: 2005 Data Set- 2005 American Community Survey, American Fact Finder, U.S. Census Bureau.
24. Haya El Nasser, “U.S. Neighborhoods Grow More Crowded,” USA Today, July 7, 2002.
25. Randy Capps, “Hardship Among Children of Immigrants: Findings from the 1999 National Survey of America’s Families,” Urban Institute, 2001.
26. The Impact of Immigration on Small- to Mid-Sized Iowa Communities,” Iowa State University Extension, June 2001.
27. “Changes in Nebraska’s and Iowa’s Counties With Large Meatpacking Plant Workforces,” GAO, February 1998, GAO/RCED-98-62.
28. Carol Ann Riha, “Bigger Hispanic Households Spotlight Need for Housing,” Associated Press, July 12, 2001.
29. Erin Coyle, “Housing Costs Deter Development,” Dubuque Telegraph Herald, May 28, 2002.
30. “Changes in Nebraska’s and Iowa’s Counties With Large Meatpacking Plant Workforces,” GAO, February 1998, GAO/RCED-98-62.
31. “Iowa State Factsheet,” Migration Information Source, Migration Policy Institute.
32. “New Study Finds Sluggish Wage, Population Growth,” Associated Press, June 12, 2001.
33. Christopher Conte, “Strangers on the Prairie,” Governing Magazine, January 2002.
34. “Family Well-Being and Welfare Reform in Iowa: A Profile of Storm Lake,” Iowa State University, October 1999.
35. John Taylor, “Meatpacker Rejects Nebraska Request to Ameliorate Ills of Its Workers,” Omaha World-Herald, September 20, 1999.
36. Iowa State Department of Education, The Annual State of Education Report, 2002.
37. Iowa State Department of Education, The Annual State of Education Report, 2006.
38. “School Board Hears Long List of Overcrowding Woes,” Dubuque Telegraph Herald, October 15, 2002.
39. “No School Realignment Next Year,””Dubuque Telegraph Herald, March 3, 2003.
40. Michael Corey, “Waukee Plans More Classrooms,” Des Moines Register, October 25, 2001
41. Karla Scoon Reid, “Iowa Grapples with Growing Diversity,” Education Week, October 9, 2000.
42. Christopher Conte, op.cit.
43.  U.S. Census Bureau 2006.
44. EJack Martin. “Issue Brief: Estimation of Foreign Born Birthrate.” FAIR. 2008
45. Jack Martin and Stanley Fogel. “Projecting the U.S. Population to 2050.” FAIR. March 2006.
46. U.S. Geological Survey 2000
47. Report Card for America's Infrastructure 2005," American Society of Civil Engineers.
48. David Barboza, “Meatpackers’ Profits Hinge on Pool of Immigrant Labor,” New York Times, December 21, 2001.
49. Laurie P. Cohen, “Free Ride: With Help from INS, U.S. Meatpacker Taps Mexican Work Force,” Wall Street Journal, October 15, 1998.
50. John Taylor, op.cit.