Signed into law just last week, the legislation allows state law enforcement to arrest undocumented immigrants and effectively gives deportation powers to local judges. Iowa is one of nine states that have passed or considered passing legislation along the lines of Texas’ SB 4, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. 

For many immigrants in Iowa, the new legislation has caused confusion and concern. Some law enforcement leaders worry about the effects on community safety, as The Gazette reports.  

"This law will make the job of law enforcement more difficult. It will diminish public safety because it will cause people to needlessly fear the police," Marshalltown Chief of Police and Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force Co-Chair Michael W. Tupper said in a statement. 

Anthony Pahnke, who witnessed the aftermath of the 2008 immigration raid in Postville, Iowa, and is vice president of Family Farm Defenders, writes that the new law could cause similar trauma. "Far from celebrating this legislation, we should recognize how such heavy-handed approaches are not only cruel, but ultimately ineffective," Pahnke writes in a Des Moines Register op-ed. 

Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s strategic communications VP, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Jillian Clark, Ally Villarreal and Clara Villatoro. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected]. 

GROWTH — As birth rates decrease and some native-born Americans move out of Ohio, immigrants have become crucial to Columbus’ growth, reports Peter Gill of The Columbus Dispatch. Per the Census Bureau, immigrants account for more than half the city’s population growth from 2020 to 2023. "If it wasn't for immigration in a state that struggles retaining population like Ohio, we would have much faster population loss," said Ohio State University urban economist Mike Partridge. "Once you start losing population, it's pretty easy to turn into a vicious cycle downward." 

JOB CREATORS — Per capita, immigrants are 80% more likely to start businesses than people born in the U.S., according to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology study. On Marketplace Morning Report, host David Brancaccio and senior economics contributor Chris Farrell get into the details. "Immigrant entrepreneurs in the U.S. are associated with a net gain in jobs," Farrell said. "Specifically, they’re responsible for roughly one in four of all jobs in young firms." 

‘INDISPENSABLE’ — We’ve been mentioning our board member, Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, a lot. He continues to bear mentioning. His latest, an essay in America: The Jesuit Review, is a moving piece about the "betwixt and between" nature of living at the border. Seitz encourages us to see the border through migrants’ eyes. "We have forgotten that despite all the fits and starts, despite the history and legacy of injustice and exploitation, migration is an indispensable part of our American narrative, not something to fear," he writes. 

CHOICES — On one front, some advocates are urging the Biden administration to grant work authorization to longtime undocumented immigrants, as Miriam Jordan and Lydia DePillis report in The New York Times. On another, the president could yet move forward with a "nuclear" executive order focused on reducing unauthorized border crossings, as Stef W. Kight and Hans Nichols report for Axios. The Chicago Sun-Times editorial board points to a different path forward — and to the need for "Congress ... to get real" about immigration reforms.