(This story was updated to add new information.)
Former President Donald Trump name-dropped Iowa several times last weekend in his speech on immigration policy during a campaign stop in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin — just across the Mississippi River from the state’s eastern border.
Trump’s visit to the town of about 5,000 countered Vice President Kamala Harris’ first stop at the U.S.-Mexico Border in Douglas, Arizona, on Friday since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee.
Trump told rally-goers in Prairie du Chien Saturday that thousands of immigrants entering the U.S. illegally are being flown into Iowa and across the country.
“We have no idea, anything about them. They could be in Iowa, they could be in Idaho,” Trump said. “They could be here because every border right now, running around every state — every state is a border town, every state is a border state.”
Trump told the crowd: “Isn’t this a wonderful and inspiring speech? I’ve got people sitting in the front row ― they’re going ‘Oh my God.'”
“This is a dark, this is a dark speech.”
His recurring claims that immigrants are being flown into the country without legal entry are unfounded, according to fact checks by PolitiFact and the Associated Press. PolitiFact reported that the Biden and Trump administrations have both employed the air transportation service of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to transfer adult detainees on flights.
Trump also referred to new data from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on thousands of immigrants with criminal convictions in the U.S., accusing Democrats and the Biden administration of releasing them into the country, where they are on the loose.
But reporting from major media outlets such as CBS News and the Washington Post states that Trump and his Republican allies are mischaracterizing the data.
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For instance, Trump and his allies claimed that the 13,099 immigrants cited by ICE in a letter were “released” by Democrats and are “at large,” posing a danger to U.S. citizens. But Republicans are misinterpreting the ICE data, a DHS spokesperson said in a statement Sunday.
The Washington Post reported that the 13,099 immigrants with murder convictions that ICE stated were on a “non-detained” list aren’t incarcerated because many may already be jailed by federal or local authorities or are serving criminal sentences before being deported.
The list of immigrants with murder convictions stretches back over four decades and includes immigrants who came here during the Trump administration, the Post and CBS News reported.
The Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll released this month found that more likely Iowa voters choose Trump over Harris to better handle immigration.
During his Wisconsin speech, Trump mentioned Iowa again when he said people in small towns are terrified about immigrants entering the U.S. illegally even if they haven’t arrived in their state yet. He said he’s talked to concerned voters in Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
“They’re terrified, they’re terrified. And a lot of these people don’t want to talk about it because they think it’s so bad for the town ― but they’re going to have to talk because people are being killed,” he said. “They are beside themselves, and honestly, I tell you they are not going to take it much longer.”
A study this month from the National Institute of Justice found that violent and property crimes committed by immigrants who entered the country illegally were actually lower than U.S.-born citizens.
But Iowa lawmakers have followed other states such as Texas to enact legislation allowing them to enforce immigration on the state level. Gov. Kim Reynolds in April signed a bill, which is now being reviewed by a federal appellate court, that would make it a state crime to enter Iowa after being denied entry or deported in the U.S.
When was former President Donald Trump last in Iowa?
Trump gave remarks in Des Moines Jan. 16 after he was declared winner of the Republican Iowa Caucuses. His campaign stops have focused recently on battleground states, including Wisconsin, where voters who could sway the Nov. 5 general election.
When was Vice President Kamala Harris last in Iowa?
Harris visited Iowa in July for a conversation at Drake University that focused on abortion rights and restrictions. She visited the state days before a law that bans abortion after roughly six weeks of pregnancy in Iowa went into effect.
Similar to Trump, Harris has made the majority of her campaign stops in battleground states.
Sabine Martin covers politics for the Register. She can be reached by email at sabine.martin@gannett.com or by phone at (515) 284-8132. Follow her on X at @sabinefmartin.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Trump name-drops Iowa during Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, visit
