IOWA CITY & DUBUQUE, Iowa (KCRG) – With the focus nationally on illegal immigration, our i9 investigation works to answer the question: Why are so many immigrants undocumented?
TV9 spoke with an immigrant and an immigration attorney to explain. Manny Galvez has lived in Iowa City since 2003. He’s also proud of his Mexican heritage, where he was born. Galvez helped start Iowa City’s Latino fest about 15 years ago and says that immigrant culture helps make Iowa great.
“Iowa is a land of immigrants and also honoring all indigenous ancestors, like they used to live in Iowa. All as a background, as in the present, I think it’s very unique for Iowa,” Galvez said.
Now he’s here legally, a full U.S. Citizen. He doesn’t forget the years-long struggle to get here.
“I tried to use my savings. And everything was gone. The process was long. I had many months where I couldn’t do anything in order to wait,” Galvez said.
He knows he’s not alone. His work in the community has shown him immigrants still waiting.
“Sometimes you are going to find people that are, like, 60 years old, 70 years old, been in America again for 40 years, and they don’t have documentation. They are undocumented. However, they are hard-working people. Why don’t they become a resident? Why don’t they become a citizen? Because there’s no way to do it,” Galvez said.
A fact immigration attorney Ry Meyer with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Dubuque understands. He’s been trying to help immigrants navigate a path to citizenship since 2018. It’s a process he says can take more than 20 years in some cases.
“You see the perception sometimes that immigrants are trying to do something criminal or undermine the system. But actually statistics show the opposite, that immigrants are actually motivated to do things the right and legal way. There are just barriers that prevent them from doing that,” Meyer said.
That’s why he argues the concept of illegal immigration is misleading. Entering the country without authorization is a federal misdemeanor. However, most don’t do that. The vast majority enter legally by seeking asylum or with a visa. But then many miss a deadline, don’t file the right paperwork or a government policy changes, and makes them undocumented, violating immigration policies.
“Being here undocumented is not a crime. That’s probably a violation of some immigrant policy, but it is not a criminal offense,” Meyer said.
Not everyone agrees with that. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley told us he supports immigration enforcement efforts. Saying immigrants who don’t follow the system, “present real dangers to our public safety and national security,” adding, “President Trump has acted swiftly to restore order to our immigration system and secure our borders.”
Meyer argues that system is set-up to fail would-be immigrants.
“The implication is that’s on the immigrant, that they’ve done something wrong or something bad, and failing to stabilize their status. But the fact of it is there’s a lot of people who are not eligible for a path to citizenship,” Meyer said.
The process isn’t cheap. An immigrant visa alone can cost $2,000. If you want a job, you’ll need a green card, too, for another $2,400. An immigration attorney to help you navigate the system can cost thousands more. Then, after living in the U.S. for five years you can apply to be a citizen. The cost and complexity are why Meyer says most immigrants end up breaking immigration laws, but not by choice, and not criminally.
“I’m not against enforcing the law. But we also have to consider humanity and what’s morally right in how we treat them,” Meyer said.
“We are sure that no matter what, we are going to keep being part of Iowa. And we are going to keep dreaming,” Galvez said.
Another misconception about undocumented immigrants Meyer and Galvez mentioned is the idea they commit more crimes. A 2024 report from the American Immigration Council found immigrants are actually less likely to commit crimes. In fact, it found the more immigrants that there are in a community, no matter their status, the lower the crime rate.
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