Iowa Legislator Bullies Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice

And we know what to do to bullies, don't we?

On Wednesday morning, I was at the Scenic Route Bakery and coffee shop in Des Moines to meet with two women who work at a nonprofit. They directed me to an Associated Press story titled “Iowa immigrant group is alarmed by a state lawmaker’s demand for confidential information.”

Here are the first four paragraphs from the AP story.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa immigrant rights organization is refusing a lawmaker’s demands to turn over private details about the nonprofit’s clients, donors and members, calling it intimidation from public officials amid a national crackdown on immigration.

The directive dated Feb. 24 was sent to Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice by the chairman of the state House government oversight committee, Rep. Charley Thomson.

An attorney for Iowa MMJ rejected the demand in an April 18 response to the full committee, saying it is not a legally valid request and suggesting the letter raises serious concerns about an abuse of process.

The organization’s founding executive director, Erica Johnson, wrote to members last week, describing what happened “as a reminder that we all have rights, we have each other’s backs and we will not remain silent or intimidated by threats.”

Thomson is a first-term Republican from Charles City.

---

When one of the women saw the expression on my face change while I was reading the story, she said something like, “Your day just changed, didn’t it?”

She was right. I was busy for much of the rest of the day, but on Thursday I was able to turn around a column titled “Iowa Lawmaker follows Trump’s Intimidation Playbook with Letter to Migrant Groups: this is creeping authoritarianism,” published in the Des Moines Register Friday morning. It may be in print next week, most likely Thursday.

---

Here is the story that I wrote for the Register. I would publish it in full, but I appreciate the hard work the reporters and the editors at the Register do, and I don’t want to undermine them. I want to celebrate them. I owe them my thanks for publishing the column, and I want to drive as many people to it and the outstanding reporting that appears on their pages. I’m also hoping that those of you who don’t already subscribe, consider doing so. I do. When I’m in town, I pick up the print version. I encourage you to do so as well.

---

I also have another debt to pay to the Des Moines Register. Back in the Stone Age, when I was a kid, we had two newspapers delivered to the door at our home in Dogpatch. The Des Moines Register and the Des Moines Tribune. Eventually, the two papers merged; I learned not only to be informed about the world around me from them, but also to read, write, and THINK by reading those newspapers.

---

Centered above is Erica Johnson, Executive Director of the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice, at a rally in 2024 at the Capitol.

---

Above are more photos of the same event last year.

---

Look at those beautiful people representing just part of the breadth of the wonder of our humanity. Please, look at them, and at the messages on their signs. They are so valuable, so productive, and they are our friends, neighbors, and kin.

We welcome them. We honor them. They are us. They share our history. They share our future.

Let’s stand with them. Find more about the Iowa Migrant Movement for justice here, and read my story at the Register here, and think about subscribing if you already don’t.

Donald Trump and the Republicans in the Iowa Legislature are authoritarian bullies. And we know what to do with bullies, don’t we?

---

Please consider sharing this post and upgrading to a paid subscription if you can afford it.

My content will always be free, as for over 60 years the words of Simon and Garfunkle in their 1964 song, “The Sound of Silence” have influenced me, “the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls,” and I’m not going to paywall them out should they be interested in my writing. My favorite version is by “Disturbed.”

---

I’m a proud member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please check out our work here. Subscribe! Become a paid subscriber if you can afford it. Please and thank you. We need you. Thanks for being part of the team! Want to buy me lunch or a cup of coffee? Venmo @Robert-Leonard-238. My friend Spencer Dirks and I have a podcast titled The Iowa Revolution. Check it out! We can get ornery. And have fun! I also publish Cedar Creek Nature Notes, about Violet the Dog and my adventures on our morning walks at Cedar Bluffs Natural Area in Mahaska County, Iowa.

Here is the Zoom link for this month’s Office Lounge for paid subscribers. It’s always held on the last Friday of the month at noon, except for November and December.