New York, December 5, 2006 — Iowa is increasingly becoming a “new destination” state for thousands of immigrants, particularly Latinos, who accounted for 77 percent of the state’s total population growth between 2000 and 2004 and now comprise Iowa’s largest minority group. A new report from The Century Foundation examines the difficulties Iowa has encountered in adjusting to those new residents.

Iowa is one of five case studies featured in Immigration’s New Frontiers: Experiences from the Emerging Gateway States, which looks at how, in the absence of federal immigration policy, “new destination” states have tried to address a range of challenges posed by both documented and undocumented immigrants, many of whom have limited English and low incomes. The studies particularly focus on such policies as law enforcement, health care, housing, education, and workers’ rights.

The Iowa study was written by Mark A. Grey, professor of anthropology at the University of Northern Iowa and director of the Iowa Center for Immigrant Leadership and Integration. Grey points out that, in many Iowa communities, the influx of nonwhite immigrant newcomers is making up for the rapid loss of the state’s working-age Anglo population, primarily caused by aging, declining birthrates, and the high rate at which young Iowans leave the state. According to the study, this rapid ethnic diversification is causing a dramatic transformation of communities, workplaces, and schools, from predominately white and English-speaking to multiethnic, multinational, and multilingual.

Grey describes the political difficulty of accommodating the state’s rapidly growing population of new immigrants, beginning with Governor Tom Vilsack’s initiative to attract and accommodate immigrants and refugees. Grey details how, after taking office in 1998, Vilsack appointed the Strategic Planning Council to help him establish a vision to make Iowa the “ Ellis Island of the Midwest .” The plan included recommendations to grow the state’s immigrant population by having Iowa designated as an “immigration enterprise zone,” so that its immigration targets would not be constrained by federal quotas, and established regional Diversity Welcome Centers to assist new residents with overcoming legal and cultural obstacles in relocating to Iowa , among other suggestions.

Initially, Governor Vilsack embraced these recommendations, which received national and international media attention. However, the plan was controversial within the state and targeted by national anti-immigrant groups as well. Over time, his administration dropped its support of the imitative. While some aspects of the plan were implemented, most have languished. Grey asserts that Vilsack dropped the immigration issue because it was hurting his reelection prospects. He believes that Vilsack, who has officially declared his intentions to run for president in 2008, may continue to suffer political backlash for dropping the immigration initiative and making English the state’s official language.

The state study examines, among other issues:

• how school districts continue to grapple with a dramatic growth in English Language Learner (ELL) students and how the state could better respond;
• efforts to provide more access and support to the children of undocumented immigrants who graduate from Iowa high schools and want to continue their education;
• state and local efforts to create or adjust existing healthcare programs and facilities to better accommodate immigrants—particularly Spanish-speaking immigrants and those with little to no health insurance;
• a new law, which took effect in 2002, requiring proof of citizenship or immigration status in order to get a driver’s license, which some law enforcement officials worry will mean that many undocumented people would not get drivers’ licenses but would drive anyway, illegally and without the mandatory liability insurance;
• a 2002 law making English the state’s official language and its effects on employers’ ability to recruit international, high-skilled workers to a state perceived as unwelcoming to foreigners; and
• resistance to building new housing to accommodate new immigrants and problems with predatory lending practices involving immigrants.

“States and localities are ill equipped to tackle the challenges or even take advantage of the opportunities that immigration presents,” argue Century Foundation co-editors Greg Anrig, vice president for program, and Tova Wang, democracy fellow. “If there is to be a workable solution, the federal government will need to come forward with effective and fair policies and the resources to implement them.”

Immigration’s New Frontiers: Experiences form the Emerging Gateway States also examines experiences with immigration in Georgia , North Carolina , Minnesota , and Nebraska . The introduction to the report and biographies of the authors are available online at The Century Foundation Web site, www.tcf.org and its immigration project site at www.immigrationline.org. The editors and contributors are available for interviews. Specific state studies are available to media on request. Purchase information is below. Please contact Christy Hicks at hicks@tcf.org or (212) 452-7723 for more information.

oundation. “If there is to be a workable solution, the federal government will need to come forward with effective and fair policies and the resources to implement them.”

Immigration’s New Frontiers: Experiences from the Emerging Gateway States also examines experiences with immigration in Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina, and Nebraska. The introduction to the report and biographies of the authors are available online at The Century Foundation Web site, www.tcf.org and its immigration project site at www.immigrationline.org. The editors and paper authors are available for interviews. Specific state studies are available to media on request. Purchase information is below. Please contact Christy Hicks at hicks@tcf.org or (212) 452-7723 for more information.

To order, call 800-552-5450; in D.C., call 202-797-6258

Immigration's New Frontiers: Experiences from the Emerging Gateway States

Edited by Greg Anrig, Jr., and Tova Andrea Wang

A Century Foundation Report

240 pages, $15.95 paper ISBN 0-87078-506-0

To order, call 800-552-5450; in D.C., call 202-797-6258