Iowa’s Latino Population in Iowa

Henderson: Latinos are now the largest nonwhite segment of Iowa's population. How important will they be to Iowa's future? We'll visit with two Latino community leaders on this edition of Iowa Press.

 

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For decades, Iowa Press has brought you political leaders and newsmakers from across Iowa and beyond. Celebrating more than 50 years on statewide Iowa, PBS, this is the Friday, June 20th edition of Iowa Press. Here is Kay Henderson.

 

Henderson: The 2020 census found there are one I mean, pardon me, 216,000 Latinos living in Iowa. That is a 162% increase from 2000 to 2020. That accounts for about 6.8% of Iowa's entire population, and is now the largest minority group in the state of Iowa. Our guests are here to talk about the state of Latinos in Iowa. Let me introduce you. First. We have Dawn Martinez Oropeza. She is executive director of AI Exito, and she is here to talk, as well as Nick Salazar. He is the Iowa State director for the League of United Latin American Citizens, often referred to as LULAC. Thanks to both of you for being here.

 

Both: Thank you.

 

Henderson: Also joining us is Linh Ta of Axios Des Moines and Erin Murphy of the Gazette in Cedar Rapids.

 

Murphy: So, let me start by introducing you both to our viewers and having you tell us a little bit more about your organizations. Dawn, we'll start with you. Tell us about AI Exito.

 

Oropeza: So, AI Exito started in Marshalltown in 2005, we’re a statewide agency that works with Latino youth, fifth grade now all the way through college. We provide wraparound services for career and college prep and really advocating for students to be able to live their best lives and thrive and be inclusive here in Iowa and lead.

 

Murphy: Excellent. We're going to talk about some of those things. Nick, tell us about LULAC.

 

Salazar: Yeah, LULAC is a the oldest and largest Hispanic civil rights organization in the country. Here in the state of Iowa, we have 20 local councils across the state that address issues a wide variety of issues from education, housing, immigration. And it's at the local level they address those issues because each community is a little bit different. So, they have the flexibility to address those issues that are important to them. I'm also the president of the Diversity Services Center of Iowa, which is based out of Muscatine, and we assist families throughout the immigration process, getting them families, lawyers, sponsors, and whatever other issues that we need to address. And I'm also co-investigator of a new project that we rolled out of LULAC called the Iowa Vital Voices Project that's exploring the impact of civic engagement in health across the state of Iowa amongst Latinos and immigrants.

 

Murphy: And, Dawn, I meant to ask you, are a you've been with Alex for a long time, since the very beginning.

 

Oropeza: No, no, since 2013. Okay, so it's my 12-year anniversary.

 

Murphy: Okay. How did you get involved?

 

Oropeza: I actually started I was with the state of Iowa at the Arts Council. And this position came open, but I was a we call them madrinas. So, God, a godparent here in Des Moines when it moved to Des Moines. And so, I really loved the organization and what we do. So.

 

Ta: So, there's been a lot of major federal news that has impacted the local Latino community here in the state. Can you both just talk a little bit about what is the state of the Latino community right now in Iowa? You know, what are you hearing from colleagues, from friends? Nick, we'll start with you.

 

Salazar: Yeah. So right now, I'm assuming we're talking about, you know, the immigration issue. And it's been an issue that's been ongoing for several years. And it didn't just start recently, but this time it's a little bit different this time around due to the rhetoric that we're hearing from the administration and just the media in general. And as I think everybody heard that there was a raid in Omaha, Nebraska, a couple weeks ago. And last week I had a lot of the communities across the state on edge, and as of right now, we haven't heard about any raids in Iowa. But we do know that there is Ice activity across the state. But the biggest challenge that we are facing is, you know, people spreading rumors and, you know, about Ice activity, about Ice raids and without that being confirmed. And so, what happens is it's it spreads fear in our community. It disrupts day to day life. And it's just not a good way to. And most of the people that share this stuff have good intentions. But that's not the right way to defend the community. What we need to do is confirm what's really happening. And truth is, our best defense.

 

Ta: Dawn?

 

Oropeza: Yeah, I think it's the same thing. There is a big difference. I also run the Iowa Latinx Project, which for the last four years has been collecting a baseline of data around Latinos here in the state, same, same topics that he's talking about. But you can go on there and look at the trends for the last five years of how Latinos have been doing here. But when it comes to immigration, you know, there's a there's a statewide hotline that gives immediate notification of things that are happening run by Iowa Migrant Movement for justice. And my phone was going off a lot this morning about like sightings and things like that. The difference I see running AI Exito is in 2016, we saw a rise of suicide attempts of mental health issues with our Latino youth. And we did do a white paper on the research around Latino youth in Iowa. This time around. Surprisingly, people are not coming together, not talking. I think everybody, every household is like living in such great fear and uncertainty and not knowing who to trust and not really wanting to come out in public. And I think that that is really is just really terrible for our families and the suffering that's happening that isn't being highlighted.

 

Murphy: And so, into those fears. And, Nick, I'll start with you on this. I assume your respective groups are doing what they can to help folks in the community. Like you said, Nick, know what's the truth and what's actually happening and anything else they need to know what kind of stuff is LULAC doing in that?

 

Salazar: Well, it's what we have across the state is a network of different people, groups and organizations that have this is we didn't just prepare for this. The deportations, Ice activities. It's been happening for a while. So, you know, President Trump's first term, you know, we did a lot of organizing. We did a lot of networking with people. And for us, in order to address these issues, we need a wide a wide range of different people and groups to come together to, to address these issues. So, if we have, you know, families that are being ripped apart, we need, you know, those groups to, to address, you know, those families, if we need resources, you know, for, for the immigrant community, you know, so they know their rights and how to defend themselves. We bring in those different groups. You know, if folks want to, you know, need help going through the immigration process to get their citizenship, we bring in those groups. And so, for us, it doesn't just take one person and organization something that what we're dealing with here takes everybody to be able to defend.

 

Murphy: Dawn, is AI Exito also involved?

 

Oropeza: Yes. So, we've been there since, you know, since the Postville raids and the Marshalltown raids and things. And during COVID, we quickly pivoted to make sure that our families were being fed and did case management. But that wasn't funded. Unfortunately, right now, what we decided to do was, you know, we're building the next generation of leaders who are really not feeling very supported in Iowa. And so, we're really, we leaned on our students to give them know your rights training so they can be trainers in their own communities. So, we did that in January so they could go out and spread the word about how to be safe, and that they feel empowered in that. We also started a network of all of our parents. And so, we give up to date information if something's happening and, you know, we support Iowa Migrant Movement for justice and making sure that we're on that hotline. And we know if there's sightings or if they need one of us to go out and investigate something as well.

 

Henderson: You mentioned Postville and Marshalltown. Those happen years ago. Postville was did not involve a majority of Latino workers.

 

Oropeza: There was a lot of Salvadorian and Mexican workers up there as well. Okay. Yeah. And how.

 

Henderson: How long ago were those?

 

Oropeza: Those? Let's see. Well, Marshalltown was in 2005 and then 2008 I believe was Postville. And so, AI Exito I've really watched the change in Marshalltown, especially because I was working in the state doing the Latino Youth Conference in Marshalltown. We decided to do it there after the raids, and I've seen the community change through. Unfortunately, a lot of devastation has happened in Marshalltown, but those raids are very fresh, and those of us who are working on protecting the community, it's not. It seems like yesterday and it seems like, you know, we started preparing for them again, you know, because that was the initial threat was, I'm coming in, we're doing raids and be ready. And Iowa is really one of the only places that has had such significant. We had the first major raid of its kind ever in the United States. And so, we have a lot of people with a lot of knowledge on how to, how to what to do and how to serve the families the best.

 

Henderson: Nick, you organization is involved in election education, and we're seeing a lot of stories about the 2024 election that indicate that the Latino community at large is starting to vote, like the country at large. Is that what you're seeing in Iowa?

 

Salazar: Yeah, we have been. So, the project that I'm a part of, the Iowa Vital Voices project, what we when we do these surveys and we do oral history interviews, it's what we're hearing from the people and it's what we're seeing. A lot of a lot of these folks, they don't trust the system. They don't trust the, you know, the elected officials. And what we're seeing here in Iowa, folks, are organizing and building power outside the traditional electoral institutions and structures. So, it may not look like your, you know, your day to day organizing, but they're, you know, they're forming groups. They're going to church, they're attending protests. And that is due to, you know, both parties, you know, taking these folks for granted and not listening to their concerns.

 

Henderson: And you're from Muscatine, and that's a community that's currently represented in the Iowa House by a Republican, Mark Cisneros, which sort of indicates maybe the same trend happening in Iowa that's happening nationally. Right?

 

Salazar: Yes.

 

Ta: Dawn, you've talked a little bit about your work with Iowa Latino Youth, with the students and the graduates that you're speaking with. Does it sound like they want to stay in Iowa after they graduate?

 

Oropeza: You know, Latinos really are the reason why Iowa has seen any kind of population growth, especially in our rural communities. And this kind of touches back to your question, but we have a lot of youth in, I guess I've been here long enough to watch them go through sixth grade through high school, graduate and then go to college and then move back to their rural communities and have children. So, we have a couple of those, especially in western Iowa. But our kids go back to the community after their education and raise their own children. And I don't think enough is being done to reach out to those communities, especially in western Iowa, to give them a different point of view of the political parties and what policies really mean to them and their families. So, we're in Clarion, we're in Belmont, and we have great leaders in those communities. Hampton. But they really, it's they need to be approached around the political party. And what that and what things mean and how they will affect them in their family.

 

Murphy: To back out and Nick, maybe I'll start with you on this big picture. What is it about Iowa that has drawn Latino families and that has created some of the growth that we talked about at the top that we're experiencing right now in the Latino population in Iowa? Well, Iowa.

 

Salazar: Well, I think these folks share a lot of the same values that Iowans share. Traditional family jobs, security, and it's and it's a great place to live. Rural Iowa, they're small communities, you know, in the industry as well. The meatpacking plants, industrial construction and like Dawn said, a lot of these communities, such as West Liberty, you know, we see, you know, that communities, majority Latino, Hispanic and without, you know, those folks in rural Iowa, a lot of these communities would probably have to shut down. And these folks aren't just, you know, shaping these communities around Iowa. They are the future of rural Iowa.

 

Murphy: Yeah. Dawn, do you hear the same things from the people you work with?

 

Oropeza: Yeah, I think a lot of it is one, they're being recruited like in in the 2000 and before, like we the largest population growth was in 1998. That's when it started. I don't know about Nick, but our families came because we were farm workers and worked the railroads, and that's how we ended up. Probably the same story. So, we've been here longer, but the largest influx has come since the 98. And they were recruited people, you know, Marshalltown from one community and Michoacan.

 

Murphy: And I'm sorry when you say recruited who are you.

 

Oropeza: Talking about mostly meat processing plants.

 

Murphy: So, the employers were okay.

 

Oropeza: Almost every one of our communities has grown, has a meat processing plant. And then we see the fluctuation in Perry, right where population drops and because.

 

Henderson: When Tyson closed.

 

Oropeza: Yeah. You know, and now there's so our families left and our program is stagnant. There. So, there's that there was a promise of opportunity. What every immigrant from Italian to Irish came here for was opportunity. And that's what the Latino population came here for. You know, we used to be the number one in the country for education. Like, I, I moved back from California because of that for my kids. And there was, you know, supports and opportunities to get ahead. And that's what families want. They want to own a home. They want to raise their family and be safe and belong and be part of the community.

 

Ta: Nick, you know, just looking big picture. Can you just talk a little bit about, you know, the wide breadth of the Latino community here in Iowa? You know, where are people from? What do households look like?

 

Salazar: So, we there are, you know, a few different, you know, generations of folks. So, we have first generation folks, new families who are here, you know, to work in those meatpacking plants in the, in the, in the factories. And, you know, they're learning, you know, they're learning the way. Then you have the second generation of families, you know, and we have their younger folks going to school, getting an education, higher education. And then the third generation, you know, entrepreneurs, small business owners, I think I read the Des Moines area had over 1500, you know, Latino businesses in the area. And so, these, you know, these different groups of people make up the, you know, the economic backbone of the state of Iowa.

 

Oropeza: And I think one of the surprising things that when we present the Latinx project data, people are like, really like 40 or 64% of Iowans, Latino Iowans are born here in the state where Iowans, citizens of Iowa. And then there's another in my numbers might be off a little bit, but there's also a larger percentage, 26 or so, that are born in other states in the United States. So, I think that's a trend that people don't realize how many of us are actually born here. And educated here in Iowa or in the United States. And then there's a smaller percentage that was born in other countries. But we are we are the youngest population, for sure. And we also, surprisingly, live the longest, I think, with Asian populations we have we live longer lives. And but then there's a lot of other things that demographic data. We have less high school graduation rates. We're at the bottom. The largest gap college graduation rate. And then just income, family income. And so, there's a lot of work and opportunities to happen.

 

Ta: Yeah. Dawn, could you speak just a little bit more about the Latinx project? And can you talk about how it's conducted and you spoke about some interesting findings? Can you talk about kind of the unique challenges also facing the community?

 

Oropeza: So, Erica Johnson, the director of Iowa Migrant Movement for justice, and Rob Baron here from Des Moines, we were getting approached during COVID by some entities, some organizations that wanted to help, especially the undocumented communities. And so, we put together a project, and we were giving out funding. But people were coming to the Warren after School program statewide, but after school program asking about statistics because we were doing needs assessments of our communities. And so, we had a lot of data collected about who was working, which communities were working, who wasn't. Safety precautions, things like that. So, we decided to do a baseline of statistics around Latinos because it hasn't been done. And so, we were looking at economics, homeownership, health, just general demographics, education and putting it in one place. So, there's a live dashboard with the report. It was updated in March. And you can download any county's statistics and compare county to county, which is very been very interesting. We have been closing a lot of the gaps, very, very, very small, but some have opened up so wide and it isn't due to COVID. It was happening a little before COVID, like 2018, where graduation, high school graduation rates had closed in a couple different communities. And now have just opened up. So, there's like we're watching the trends happen.

 

Henderson: So why?

 

Oropeza: That's a good question. I think part of it, you know, there's a lot of different factors. I think, playing into it. One, Latino women didn't really join the workforce until probably around 2018. And now has increased considerably. So, there isn't a lot of support at home for students. I think that's part of it. I think when we talk about before, when we were allowed to say Dei or equity, Latinos weren't always included in that conversation. I think people just have a tendency not to want to talk or discuss the Latinos in their community, you know, whether that's to celebrate them or not. But they just don't bring it up in discussions of looking at those trends, especially when it came to COVID numbers and at our students, Latino students in general, failed classes at a huge rate. But no one pointed that out. Nobody was talking about it. And I wish I had those answers.

 

Henderson: Erin?

 

Murphy: Well, piggy backing right off of that Dawn some numbers that as we were preparing for this that kind of stood out to us. You mentioned, I think you alluded to the median age or the younger. Yeah, yeah. So, the median age of the average Iowan is 39, according to census data. But Latinos, it's 26. Yeah. And some back of the napkin math here. Latinos are roughly 7% of the state population, but 13% of our students in Iowa schools. So clearly there's a younger population here that you're working with. Specifically, you just highlighted some of the challenges. I assume getting young people to be the first and maybe in their family to graduate high school and college. What kinds of help can your group and or can the state provide?

 

Oropeza: Well, so with AI Exito, so we do provide after school programs and it's really geared toward college prep and leadership prep. And our students have nudged me along the way. And we've grown to now that we have, we'll have three campuses college campus visits, our college campus programs. So, they've continued the structure for college for us. However, statewide, a lot of the programs and resources that are supporting our youth are being taken away. And they're not going to have an easy chance to get to college. Now, before there was things sometimes that that would provide services for students that wouldn't be scared to apply if their families were undocumented, or if they had somebody in the family undocumented. Those are all families now are so scared to even leave their house. They're not going to fill out a FAFSA form. They're not going to fill out a scholarship form. And I don't know what's going to happen to those numbers in a year. We have enough funding for another year of data collection, and it's going to be scary.

 

Ta: Nick, can you talk just a little bit about some of the income disparities facing Latino households? You know, especially in communities like Muscatine?

 

Salazar: Yeah. So, there is a, you know, an income gap in a lot of it's due, especially within our immigrant community. You know, at these places that they're working at. A lot of these folks are getting they're being taken advantage of due to their status. You know, or the community that they're from. And so, you know, a lot of these places, they can't unionize. There's hardly any worker's protections across the state. They're dismantling, you know, any type of workforce assistance. Recently, they just eliminated the Iowa Office of Latino Affairs that would provide, you know, those types of resources or guidance. You know, for these families. And so, you know what? And what these families are dealing with generally is just, you know, the workplace and, you know, and through these protections and, you know, these state policy, you know, there's opportunities for us to be able to close that gap, give people, you know, educate people about their rights and unionize at some of these workplaces.

 

Henderson: Well, our workplace here at the table is done. Thank you both for being here and sharing your views.

 

Salazar: Thank you.

 

Oropeza: Thank you very much.

 

Henderson: You can watch every episode of Iowa Press at iowapbs.org. For everyone here at Iowa PBS, thanks for watching today.

 

Funding for Iowa Press was provided by friends, the Iowa PBS Foundation. The Associated General Contractors of Iowa, the public's partner in building Iowa's highway bridge and municipal utility infrastructure. Across Iowa, hundreds of neighborhood banks strive to serve their communities, provide jobs, and help local businesses. Iowa banks are proud to back the life you build. Learn more at iowabankers.com.