No outside interpreters allowed, but the pope will see Iowa immigrant advocates

A lone immigrant waits for her annual check-in at the Cedar Rapids Immigration and Customs Enforcement office early the morning of Sept. 16, 2025. (Photo by Lyle Muller)

For a while, representatives of immigrant advocate groups Escucha Mi Voz and Catholic Worker House were allowed to accompany immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) check-ins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

That ended the week of Sept. 8.

To hear Escucha Mi Vos group representative Alejandra Escobar tell it, guards at the ICE office physically pushed interpreter and Catholic Worker Emily Sinnwell out of the office. ICE officials say they did not, have their own interpreters and were trying to protect their place of work.

For context, that place has been looking pretty safe during in-person visits in August and September. Also, it is important to know that this happened after a Sept. 8 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that put on hold for further legal work a U.S. Appeals Court ruling that prohibited authorities from stopping suspected miscreant immigrants in Los Angeles based on how the suspects look.

It also followed Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ pledge of National Guard troops to support ICE efforts, effective Sept. 8. “What we are witnessing is the militarization of Iowa, the shrinking of the public square, and the stripping away of rights to speech, worship, and accompaniment,” Escobar wrote.

The amperage is not getting dialed down in this dispute. Iowans — yes, here without legal papers in some cases or guilty of some minor crime that serves as an easy-pie way to get rid of someone of color — are taken away from their homes and families during mandated check-ins. You think it is okay? Watch little kids at the Cedar Rapids ICE office appear relieved when they leave the building because they thought their parents would be taken from them.

By the way, a lot of these people have been trying proper channels for U.S. citizenship. One guess for who isn’t following up and processing their applications: the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The ICE press office in St. Paul, Minnesota, wrote for this column in a Sept. 16 email that denying an interpreter access to accompany immigrants was warranted:

“The individual in question is well known to our contract security personnel in Cedar Rapids and was properly denied entry because she is not an immigration attorney and only identified herself as an interpreter, a service ICE already provides. No one was removed from the lobby. She was simply told she could not accompany the alien during check-in under new security measures. These steps are necessary given ongoing protest activity, vandalism, misinformation, and assaults on officers, and ICE will continue to ensure its operations are not disrupted.”

That ban includes clergy in this country whose leaders profess to follow Jesus. The Rev. Guillermo Trevino Jr., priest at St. Joseph Catholic Church in West Liberty, was not allowed to accompany a woman to her check-in Tuesday, Sept. 16. “She's nervous. You know, it's just like, what do we do?” he said when asked about it as she waited. “It's not right, it’s not fair.”

The woman passed her review and was released. Meanwhile, Trevino said two Escucha Mi Voz members have been invited to The Vatican for workshops on immigration issues and an audience with Pope Leo XIV, who seems to be OK with having them in his building.

The Rev. Guillermo Trevino Jr. of St. Joseph Catholic Church in West Liberty prays at Sept. 16, 2025, immigrant check-in at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, ICE office. (Photo by Lyle Muller)

That ICE responded to an email question about shutting out interpreters is appreciated, given that getting all sides to make their points in controversial matters is difficult for a column that will lay down some criticism. Hopefully, any past experience with this column should show that attempts to be fair to sides that provide comment are taken.

But a few observations need to be made about these demonstrations in support of immigrants at the Cedar Rapids office.

One, if vandalism exists it is small enough to be undetectable at the rallies and is denied by attendees. People at a Sept. 16 Cedar Rapids rally were upset about claims of assaults on officers as they have not existed during the check-ins there, thus the lack of arrests for assaults on a federal officers. The sense among demonstrators in Cedar Rapids is that ICE’s claims are designed to descredit all demonstrators and their actions. As one of the Sept. 16 speakers noted, most of the people there were white hair seniors who have trouble just getting up, let alone pounding on an armed ICE agent.

Two, a lot of the immigrants fear the ICE interpreters and their supporters do not trust them, especially if left alone with the immigrants. Who can blame them? Rhetoric from the United States president and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem are not confidence builders.

Misinformation? Yes, a small number of speakers have accused officers of being thugs, as some did in August and one did Sept. 2. These comments brought cringes from demonstrators who do not want to paint police in that light and detract attention from the real issue at hand. It also brought complaints from some of the many religious leaders who show up, wearing collars and stoles so their intent can be identified.

Cringes also exist among demonstrators when ICE agents refer to them as engaging in ongoing vandalism, misinformation and assaults. The characterizations are not fair unless you think events starting with and including ministers of several faiths praying for peace and advocacy for the immigrants is rabble rousing. The protesters sang “Yes, Jesus Loves Me” at an Aug. 5 event. At each check-in rally some of the immigrants go to a microphone to thank the demonstrators for their support and for cheering them as they leave their check-ins to go back to work or school.

But make no mistake knowing that law enforcement intimidation efforts bring out fears and accusations.

(Above, top) Scenes like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents wearing masks and watching a Sept. 2, 2025, check-in support rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Above, bottom) Cedar Rapids police cars line the street at the ICE office at 3351 Square D Dr. SW. (Photos by Lyle Muller)

A light moment with Cedar Rapids, Iowa, police officers Sept. 2, 2025, outside the Cedar Rapids ICE office. (Photo by Lyle Muller)

RACIAL PROFILING CONCERNS

Several church denominations have issued public statements against the Sept. 8 Supreme Court ruling. The ruling, with the court’s three liberal justices dissenting, effectively allows racial profiling, more than one clear-thinking person believes. Justice Brett Kavanaugh felt differently in the ruling, writing:

“The Government sometimes makes brief investigative stops to check the immigration status of those who gather in locations where people are hired for day jobs; who work or appear to work in jobs such as construction, landscaping, agriculture, or car washes that often do not require paperwork and are therefore attractive to illegal immigrants; and who do not speak much if any English. If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U. S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, they promptly let the individual go. If the individual is illegally in the United States, the officers may arrest the individual and initiate the process for removal.”

Religious leaders in multiple denominations have pulled the alarm, calling it a license for ethnic cleansing.

“When any part of God’s divine image is demeaned because of language, accent, skin color, or difference from white dominant culture, we cannot remain silent,” stated a letter signed by officers of four United Methodist Church national groups advocating for equality and justice.

The signees include the Rev. Julius Trimble, former Iowa bishop and now general secretary of the denomination’s General Board of Church and Society. “This ruling is not simply a matter of policy; it grants license for racial profiling. It sanctifies discrimination. It weaponizes our God-given Imago Dei as a tool for exclusion and erasure,” the letter states.

The Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, presiding bishop for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, wrote:  “I want to be clear that, though this ruling effectively singles out the Latiné community, it also sets a precedent that will erode constitutional safeguards for all of us.”

That was on the mind of Gabriel Castro when he took the microphone atthe Sept. 16 gathering. “Right now, it's like one of the most dangerous times to be an immigrant here in America,” the Cedar Rapids artist and activist who grew up in Cherokee, Iowa, said. “Racial profiling is back, back on the menu, right? And so they can look at us and just stop us. And, they don't need any other reason to detain us besides the way that they look or language that they speak.”

That’s the kind of talk that gets people wondering what they can do. Some won’t care and say nothing needs to be done.

Trevino takes a different path. He said the best thing people can do to support immigrants in their check-ins is “that they show up and care for them.”

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