There are dozens of different immigration statuses that may apply to an individual, depending on political winds and government bureaucracy.
November 19, 2024 - 2:45pm

Of the estimated 200,000 immigrants here in Iowa, nearly half are full, naturalized U.S. citizens. The other 100,000 or so have one of several dozens of immigration statuses, which are each influenced by several factors, all of which can change over time.

Factors that determine immigration status include:

  • Family structure and marital status
  • What their home country is and the political situation there, including any natural disasters
  • The political situation in the U.S. and in Iowa
  • Age of the individual
  • The religion of the individual
  • Race and/or cultural or ethnic background
  • How backlogged immigration courts may be
  • The quality of their legal representation and how much money they have to pay for that legal representation
  • Student status. A little over 8,000 of Iowa’s immigrants are international students at a college or university.
  • If they have a highly valued work skill
  • If they are a victim of domestic violence or sex trafficking
  • If they have been able to renew their current immigration status, such as a work or student visa. This also may depend on the cooperation of their home country.
  • “Moral character” and any past civil or criminal arrests or convictions
  • The ability to pass English, civics, and history exams
  • U.S. government quotas on numbers of certain types of immigrants

Determining a person’s immigration status is so complex that sometimes an individual themselves can’t tell you exactly what their current immigration status is, or will be in a few months, weeks, or sometimes even days.

It’s just one reason that SF2340 is so unworkable. It takes extensive legal training, time, and access to multiple databases to determine someone’s precise immigration status. For example, to expect a police officer to do a check during a traffic stop or as part of a routine arrest for unlawful marijuana possession is completely unrealistic.

Even with training and access to databases, the time involved would pull officers away from actual public safety tasks, and in the end, make our communities not more safe, but less.