𝗟𝗨𝗟𝗔𝗖 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗨𝗙𝗖𝗪 𝗢𝗕𝗝𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗢𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗢𝗙 𝗩𝗜𝗦𝗔𝗦 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗠𝗘𝗔𝗧 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗧 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗞𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗜𝗡 𝗜𝗢𝗪𝗔

One of the quainter places we visited in 2023 was Ottumwa, Iowa, where, for two months, Ana and I stayed at the Econo Lodge, a sprawling motel with adjoining long-term apartments. Most evenings, the narrow second-floor walkway outside our room and the parking lot below were filled with the sound of Spanish, as Mexican Nationals working on freeway construction and housing projects returned from long shifts. I recall seeing no Texas plates in the parking lot, mostly Michigan, Illinois, Ohio and Coahuila.

We frequented a small international grocery stocked mainly with Asian staples, while the Walmart on the edge of town carried the widest range of Mexican products I had ever seen in a U.S. supermarket, sauces, spices, and tortillas, reflecting labor pool for local industry.  

Ottumwa’s history is deeply entwined with manufacturing and meatpacking with John Deere and JBS among the largest employers. 

Now that workforce faces an uncertain future. More than 200 JBS employees, many from Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, have been told their visas are being revoked. The decision followed a Supreme Court ruling that allowed Trump to dismantle immigration programs expanded under the Biden administration, programs that had given temporary legal protections to workers fleeing instability in their home countries. 

                

According to union representatives, the terminated workers began receiving notices weeks ago and were later called into individual meetings where they were told their employment status could not be verified under federal systems. JBS, in compliance with federal requirements, has offered $1,000 to help cover the cost of self-deportation. The company has said it will rehire workers who are later able to present valid documentation.

Local leaders describe the development as a blow to Ottumwa. The pork plant is the city’s largest employer, and Mayor Rick Johnson has warned of the strain this will place on both the economy and families who have put down roots. The United Food & Commercial Workers union has also voiced concern, saying the decision destabilizes communities and threatens the nation’s food supply chain.

Community advocates, including Ottumwa’s League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), are now scrambling to support affected families. “They came here legally and they were doing it the right way,” said LULAC vice president Paulina Ocegueda. “It’s just a very scary time for them right now.”

For a city once defined by coal, railroads, and factories, Ottumwa’s identity has long been bound to waves of labor and migration. Now, as families confront sudden displacement, the city is once again at the crossroads of history.