Iowa & Leveling Up Local Support: Resettlement at Risk
We can transform local support for resettlement into federal support for GRACE.
Grassley Supports Resettlement
During a recent town hall hosted by Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, constituents shared their frustrations about the Trump Administration’s approach to resettlement and immigration.
Confronted by mounting public pressure, Senator Grassley stated, clearly, his support for resettlement: “Turning away people who have come here for asylum is one of the most shameful things we are doing right here… I would welcome refugees.”
Let’s get this straight: Senator Grassley, a senior Republican—and one of the major political roadblocks to the passage of the Afghan Adjustment Act—stated his commitment to welcoming refugees, even amidst the Trump Administration’s unrelenting opposition.
We’ve written repeatedly about the possibilities of building bridges across the aisle on resettlement; last week, we even mapped out just who to talk to.
Iowans—and others across the Country—are speaking up. Now, our job is to make sure we are uplifting the right asks and capitalizing on every opportunity to focus Congress’s attention on the right solutions.
What if constituents knew to ask Grassley about GRACE?
Here’s a quick and easy way local supporters of resettlement can use what they’re already doing to build bipartisan momentum for a resettlement minimum.
Case Study: The Polk County Board of Supervisors
Polk County Iowa sits smack-dab in the middle of The Hawkeye State. It houses Des Moines, the state capitol, and about 500,000 people—the most populous county in The Hawkeye State.
The Voters of Polk County
It’s a purple county, just slightly blue—with four resettlement agencies serving the county’s refugees.
Approximately 250,000 people from Polk County voted in the 2024 Presidential Election, with fifty-five percent of the vote going to Vice President Harris. They helped re-elect Zach Nunn (R) to represent Iowa’s Third Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Residents of Polk County also voted two new Republican County Supervisors into office, bringing the Board to three-two party split—with Democrats governing by one-vote majority.
Polk County isn’t a Democratic strong-hold. The Board’s actions on resettlement serve as a bipartisan blue-print for supporting refugees—one Iowa’s federal representatives should take note of.
The Board of Supervisors: Supporting Refugees
On February 5th, 2025, Supervisor Angela Connolly (Democrat, District 5) asked Mak Suceska of Global Neighbors to testify on the state of resettlement in Polk County. While not a resettlement agency, Global Neighbors serves as a hub for refugees and immigrants to access services related to employment, housing and education—and is, in part, financed by the Board of Supervisors.
He reported on the Trump Administration’s federal funding freeze—the $1.225 million dollars withheld from Des Moines’s four refugee resettlement agencies:
“When we talk about the situation on the ground, it’s dire. All services have ceased. Families are not able to receive immunizations. They are not able to receive case management. Children are not able to be enrolled into school. And the biggest problem, right now, that we are facing is food. Families are not able to access food.”
Supervisors questioned Mr. Suceska on the basics of The Reception & Placement Program. Ultimately, the Board unanimously approved a resolution to reimburse resettlement agencies for up to $500,000 of withheld federal funds.
While the courts have ordered the Trump Administration to reimburse resettlement agencies, this display of bipartisan support can—and should—be leveled-up to build Congressional support for a resettlement minimum.
What We’d Recommend for Polk County
During the meeting, Board Chair Matt McCoy (Democrat, District 1) expressed concerns about the limits of local support:
“What I’m trying to get a handle on—we are not the federal government. So how do we help without assuming the entire role of the federal government as it relates to assistance? Because I think us paying…I’m just not sure this is sustainable long-term…We need some guidance. Hopefully, our federal lobbyist can give us some insight, maybe, to provide us some advice long-term, going forward—how we keep this operation going under this new world order that we’re facing.”
Supervisor McCoy is right: Iowa’s Refugee Resettlement Program is at risk—and only Congress has the power to build a truly sustainable Refugee Program.
Governors, legislatures, county boards, mayors, and city councils can uplift their support of resettlement into advocacy for a resettlement minimum. All it takes is a resolution, a letter, a meeting.
Here’s what that might look like for Polk County:
Dispelling Myths: Resettlement Remains At Risk
Iowa’s Congressional delegation has expressed support for the Trump Administration’s suspension of resettlement. They believe a pause is necessary to re-evaluate the Refugee Program’s use of taxpayer dollars—and that the pause will have minimal effects on Iowa’s Refugee Program long-term.
The facts on the ground—from both the first Trump Administration and now—tell a different story. As Renee Hardman, President and CEO of Lutheran Services Iowa, shared in an interview with the Des Moines Register: “I don’t see resettlement coming back until there is a new administration.”
In our draft letter for Polk County, we’ve tried to share these harsh realities with Iowa’s Congressional delegation:
Following the President’s Executive Order “Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program,” issued January 27th, no refugees have arrived in Iowa. While these suspensions may prove to be temporary, the damage they have caused will permanently handicap Iowa’s Refugee Resettlement Program.
Only three months into this suspension, two of Iowa’s eleven resettlement offices—both administered by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops—have announced their intent to permanently withdraw from the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program by the end of this fiscal year. Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Des Moines (District 3) and the Mary J. Treglia Community House in Sioux City (District 4) will cease contracted resettlement programming in September. The anticipated unreliability of federal funds “forces us to reconsider…we simply cannot sustain the work on our own.” In addition to losing resettlement offices, Iowa is also losing jobs: many of Iowa’s resettlement agencies have laid off almost 50% of their staff, many of whom are hard-working, high skilled social workers—and many are refugees themselves.
In February, Polk County approved $500,000 in emergency funding to reimburse resettlement agencies for services to 478 refugees already rebuilding their lives in Des Moines; while crucial, local funding has proved and will continue to prove insufficient to sustain Iowa’s Refugee Resettlement Program.
We urge you to consider legislation that would reclaim the role of Congress in refugee admissions and enshrine America’s commitment to refugees in law. Iowa’s Refugee Program has a bottom line; at present, America’s Refugee Program does not. Congress must establish a refugee resettlement floor: a minimum number of refugees that must be admitted to the U.S. each year. We urge you to work across the aisle to develop passable legislation that would codify such a minimum and protect Iowa’s Refugee Program for decades to come.
Other Iowan supporters could send similar letters. During Iowa’s 2025 legislative session, State Senator Sarah Trone-Garriot, and thirteen other legislators sponsored legislation to cover the $2.3 million shortfall in federal funding and support Iowa’s resettled communities.
Are you the constituent that will ask them to?
Ask Your Local Electeds to Draft Letters
When you see local elected officials taking action to support resettlement in your state, you can encourage them to draft similar letters.
We can channel this momentum toward advocating for the GRACE Act—legislation that offers a systemic solution rather than just emergency fixes.
The GRACE Act represents our clearest path for building a sustainable, humane resettlement program that can withstand political shifts. But laws don't pass themselves. The stories from Iowa show us that when constituents fill town halls, when they confront elected officials with moral clarity, when they put faces and names to statistics—change happens.
In the words of Tina Bhandari, who fled Bhutan and spent nearly 20 years in a Nepalese refugee camp before making Iowa her home for the past 14 years, "I think we have to unite together, let us be strong… Let us raise our voice about what we are doing… let us keep doing. I think one day or another, they will hear us."
Thanks for reading Save Resettlement.
Next Week, Kansas & Resumption.
In the meantime, it’s spring for most folks that read our newsletter—enjoy the sunshine and the lilac blossoms. Hope is eternal, wherever we can find it.
