Iowa
H-1B visa holders protest Iowa bill to ban them from universities
Watch as Iowans rally against H‑1B hiring limits at state universities
Iowans rally against HF 2513, a bill prohibiting state universities from hiring H-1B visa holders from countries flagged as foreign adversaries.
Many wore hats and sunglasses and some brought umbrellas to shade themselves from the hot sun as they rallied at the Iowa Capitol in opposition to a bill that would prohibit the hiring of certain visa holders at Iowa’s public universities.
The group of about 150 marched in a circle with signs that read “International scholars build Iowa too,” “Education not discrimination,” and “Strong universities, strong Iowa.”
Iowa State University, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa, as well as community colleges, would not be able to hire citizens from countries that are designated as foreign adversaries or state sponsors of terrorism under House File 2513. The House passed the bill on March 3 with a 68-27 vote. A Senate subcommittee recommends the bill’s passage.
Faculty members of Iowa State University and the University of Iowa spoke to the crowd at the rally Saturday, March 21 about their experiences as H-1B visa holders and how the bill would affect the university system and Iowa.
Hongwei Zhang, a computer engineering professor at Iowa State since 2017, said in an interview that “by this bill, H-1B visa holders may lose their rights to stay in Iowa. Essentially, families will potentially, starting July 1, have to move out of the state.”
Zengyi Shao, a chemical engineering professor at Iowa State, became a H-1B visa holder after completing her PhD at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2009 and later became a U.S. citizen. The process took 17 years, she said, and “many people of Chinese origin who now work in universities and community colleges have followed this same path.”
“If this bill had been in place years ago, I would not have been able to come to Iowa and serve as an educator,” she said to the crowd. Shao has been teaching at Iowa State since 2013.
American flags were flown during the rally, organized by the Chinese Association of Iowa, United Chinese Americans, the Iowa City Area Chinese Association, the Chinese Faculty and Staff of Central Iowa Association, and Iowans for Brighter Future.
“What worries me is it will also push those who are already here, not including many current or even previous H-1B visa holders, to live in other states that are more welcoming,” Shao said. “So if this happens, basically the spirit of Iowa nice will likely become a thing of the past.”
Jie Lie, a researcher at Iowa State University who has lived in Iowa since 2009 and worked at the university since 2011, said the H-1B visa is a “pipeline of global talents for the United States.”
“It’s just trying to put Iowa in a very bad place,” Lie said of the bill.
What is House File 2513? What would it do if passed?
An H-1B visa allows “non-immigrant alien workers” to be hired for “specialty occupations or as fashion models,” according to the U.S. Department of Labor. A “specialty occupation” requires specialized knowledge and a minimum education of a bachelor’s degree, helping employers hire qualified candidates who cannot fulfill the needed skills and abilities of the U.S. workforce.
Having an H-1B visa allows for the temporary employment of qualified candidates who may not otherwise be authorized to work in the United States.
Under HF 2513, even those who hold a valid H-1B visa would be prohibited from entering into an employment contract if they come from countries identified as foreign adversaries or as state sponsors of terrorism, including China, North Korea, Iran, Syria, Russia and Venezuela. If passed, it would take effect July 1.
During floor debate, Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Hull, said that “our universities are for Americans and Americans first.”
“This bill enhances national security and protects sensitive research at Iowa’s public universities by preventing potential risks from espionage or intellectual property theft associated with hires from adversarial nations such as China, aligning with broader U.S. concerns over foreign influence in academia while prioritizing American or allied talent,” Wheeler said.
There are about 120 employees through the H-1B visa program at Iowa’s state universities, according to the Iowa Board of Regents.
“If this bill passes, our jobs are gone,” said Emily Gao, an assistant teaching professor of architecture at Iowa State and an H-1B visa holder.
Iowa would join Texas, Florida in H-1B hiring halt
Iowa isn’t the first state to eye restrictions on hiring employees through the H-1B visa program.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Jan. 27 called for the freeze of new H-1B petitions at all Texas state agencies and universities, as well as a review of the current H-1B visa program “abuse.”
The Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state’s university system, approved a one-year ban on hiring through the H-1B visa program on March 2.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a social media post in October universities across the nation are “importing foreign workers on H-1B visas instead of hiring Americans who are qualified and available to do the job.”
Iowa’s restrictions on H-1B visa hiring would follow President Donald Trump’s restrictions on the visa holders, unveiled in September, that decried the “large-scale replacement of American workers” and “systemic abuse” of the H-1B program and lamented the growth in the foreign share of the workforce in computer and math occupations.
The Iowa Capital Dispatch contributed to this report.
Kyle Werner is the breaking news and public safety reporter for the Register. Reach him at kwerner@registermedia.com.
3 things to know about Iowa’s election results
Give us about 80 seconds to catch you up on Iowa’s June 2 primary election results.
A state panel voted to remove Libertarian candidates for governor and Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District from the Nov. 3 general election ballot — and the candidates are vowing to appeal the decision in court.
Republican voters, strategists and activists challenged the candidacies of gubernatorial candidate Nicholas Gluba, 2nd Congressional District candidate Rick Stewart and 3rd Congressional District Marco Battaglia.
The three-member State Objection Panel heard the challenges Monday, June 15.
The panel said Gluba and his lieutenant governor candidate, Jules Cutler, failed to qualify for the ballot because Cutler did not submit an affidavit of candidacy by the June 2 deadline.
And the panel said 3rd District candidate Marco Battaglia could not appear on the ballot because his affidavit of candidacy and nominating papers do not match his legal name, Mark T. Andersen — even though he run as a candidate previously on election ballots as Marco Battaglia.
Gluba, Cutler and Battaglia say they will appeal the panel’s ruling to district court.
“We have over 8,000 petitions signed,” Cutler said. “I think not appealing it would be doing a disservice to the people who actually signed those petitions.”
The panel found Stewart qualified for the general election ballot, unanimously voting to dismiss a complaint against him.
Republicans are expected to face competitive elections this fall as they seek to retain the governor’s office and their full control of Iowa’s congressional delegation. Having Libertarian candidates on the ballot could potentially pull away votes from Republicans they need to win.
Election analysts at the Cook Political Report rate Iowa’s governor’s race, and the 3rd District as “toss-ups.” The 2nd District is considered “likely Republican.”
Libertarian lieutenant governor candidate failed to submit affidavit of candidacy
The challenge against Gluba and Cutler’s candidacies from Waukee Republican Keven Arrowsmith revolved around Cutler’s failure to provide a signed affidavit of candidacy to the Iowa Secretary of State’s office.
Cutler said an employee in the office, Dani Phillips, told her she did not need to submit a separate affidavit of candidacy and that Phillips would not accept Cutler’s affidavit when she tried to submit it.
Gluba turned in his own affidavit of candidacy, as well as more than 8,000 signatures of Iowans who support placing the proposed gubernatorial ticket on the ballot, exceeding the 3,500-signature threshold.
Phillips, however, testified to the panel that Cutler did not provide an affidavit of candidacy or ask if she was required to provide one.
“I think there’s a factual issue that appears to be very much in dispute,” said Attorney General Brenna Bird, who sits on the panel. “Ms. Phillips says that the affidavit of lieutenant governor was never offered as part of the petitions. Ms. Cutler and others say that the objection was offered, and it was rejected as not necessary by Ms. Phillips.”
The panel, comprised of Bird, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate and Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, all Republicans, ruled unanimously in favor of the challenge against Gluba and Cutler, removing the gubernatorial ticket from the ballot.
“I tend to side with the election worker, because I don’t think she has a reason not to follow the law,” Bird said. “That hasn’t been seen here, and as she described it, I think that that affidavit for whatever reason may not have been filed.”
State Auditor Rob Sand, a Democrat, recused himself from hearing the challenge because he is running for governor.
With Gluba off the ballot, Sand and Republican Zach Lahn will be the only gubernatorial candidates on Iowa’s ballot.
At the hearing, Gluba and Cutler’s attorney, Jake Heard, questioned Phillips’ memory of the day that Gluba and Cutler submitted their nominating papers.
Cutler said she believes Phillips made a mistake and doesn’t remember Cutler trying to offer an affidavit of candidacy.
“It is natural for her to make a mistake, and I’m willing to give that to her,” Cutler said. “What I would really appreciate the objection panel to look at is her memory.”
After the hearing, Cutler criticized the panel’s proceedings.
“That is the most disappointing, frustrating and disheartening experience I’ve had in 30-plus years since I immigrated as a 16-year-old girl from the Soviet Union,” Cutler said.
Marco Battaglia removed from 3rd District ballot for not using legal name
A split panel voted to remove Battaglia from the ballot because he did not run under his legal name of Mark Andersen.
Alan Ostergren, an attorney for challengers Annie Kuhle and Wes Enos, said allowing someone to run for office under a different name would confuse voters.
“What would stop a candidate next cycle from saying, ‘My name’s Chuck Grassley, I’m running for the Senate,’” Ostergren said.
However, Battaglia ran for governor as a Libertarian in 2018, losing the primary and then running as the party’s nominee for attorney general that year. Battaglia also was the Libertarian nominee for lieutenant governor in 2022.
“Mr. Battaglia has appeared on the ballot in three general elections as Marco Battaglia,” said Stephanie Berlin, chair of the Libertarian Party of Iowa. “He is known professionally as Marco Battaglia in his band. Everybody knows who he is as Marco Battaglia.”
He also ran for Congress in the 3rd District in 2024 but was removed from the ballot for a different reason and ran as a write-in candidate.
Sand asked Berlin about Battaglia’s previous runs for office under the name Marco Battaglia.
“Wouldn’t an objection at this point when he’s already done it be in some way unfair?” he said.
Berlin agreed.
Bird said she believes Iowa law is clear that candidates have to run under their own name.
“I don’t think Iowa law allows someone to run for office under a fictitious name that’s not their name,” Bird said.
The panel voted 2-1 to uphold the challenge against Battaglia, with Bird and Pate in favor and Sand opposed.
With Battaglia off the ballot, Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn and Democratic state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott will be the only candidates on the ballot in the 3rd District, which includes the Des Moines metro.
Battaglia says he faces pressure from Republicans to drop out of the race.
He said Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn and Kuhle, who is a Republican strategist and adviser to Nunn, visited his home and asked him to drop out. Battaglia said he also received a call from U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Officials with Nunn’s campaign said they believe Battaglia submitted petition signatures they suspect were gathered by an outside group, which could constitute an illegal in-kind contribution to Battaglia’s campaign under federal law.
After meeting with Nunn and Kuhle, Battaglia told them in a text that he would consider ending his candidacy “if you would be willing to introduce impeachment of the President for Treason, Bribery and other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
Kuhle refused.
“To be clear, this is not a negotiation; Zach will not be making any promises about official policy actions in exchange for your removal from the ballot,” she wrote in a text to Battaglia.
After the hearing, Berlin criticized what she called threats against Battaglia, saying Nunn and Kennedy offered Battaglia time in the White House and visits to Trump administration officials if he dropped out.
“We are not the Republican JV team,” she said. “We are not backing down.”
Kuhle disputed that characterization in a statement, saying, “no offer, inducement or thing of value was ever proposed or provided in exchange for withdrawing the nomination petitions.”
Rick Stewart will appear on ballot in 2nd District
Stewart will appear on the general election ballot in Iowa’s 2nd District after the panel voted unanimously to dismiss the objection against him.
Bernie Hayes, chair of the Linn County Republicans, argued Stewart should be disqualified because he identifies himself as Rick Stewart on his affidavit of candidacy but turned in nominating petitions identifying himself as Richard Stewart.
Ostergren, who represented Hayes, said he did not know whether he would appeal the panel’s ruling.
Stewart will join Republican Joe Mitchell, Democrat Lindsay James and no party candidate Dave Bushaw on the ballot in the northeast Iowa district.
Stephen Gruber-Miller is the Capitol bureau chief for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com, by phone at 515-284-8169 or on X at @sgrubermiller.
PALO, Iowa (KCRG) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says eight beaches are not recommended for swimming.
Beaches in eastern Iowa include Pleasant Creek in Palo, Backbone in Dundee and Lake Darling in Brighton.
Other beaches include Black Hawk in Sac County, Clear Lake in Cerro Gordo County, Crandalls Beach and Emerson Bay in Dickinson County, and North Twin Lake West in Calhoun County.
Testing shows the waters are showing high levels of E. coli, which is an indicator of other potentially harmful bacteria in the water.
Swimming in contaminated water could lead to illnesses and infections.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — The number of inmates at Iowa’s prisons are expected a surge in the coming years, but prison workers don’t don’t they’re ready for the challenge.
Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Iowa’s habitual offender law June 2, a measure expected to cause the number of inmates in Iowa prisons to surge.
Under the new law, a person is considered a habitual offender once they are convicted of their third felony. Their mandatory minimum sentence would be doubled, as well as increasing their maximum sentence.
To counter the expected increase, the state is planning to build three new prisons.
Todd Copley, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the union that represents Iowa’s prison workers, said the state cannot staff the facilities it already has.
“The Department of Corrections can’t staff the prisons that we have, let alone build three more where it would be impossible to staff those,” Copley said.
The nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency predicts the number of inmates behind bars at Iowa prisons will surge by nearly 50 percent in three years.
“t’s, I don’t think words comprehend what the staff is facing in the future,” Copley said.
The LSA says Iowa’s prison system has more than 230 vacant positions, more than half of those being for correctional officers. Iowa prisons are already over capacity by 27 percent across the state.
Staffing issues are at the center of a lawsuit against the Iowa Department of Corrections after a guard and nurse were murdered by inmates at the Anamosa State Penitentiary in 2021. The suit says poor staffing contributed to their deaths.
“I talk frequently with a lot of the correctional officers and, you know, what happened with the murders at Anamosa is devastating. It’s so unfortunate,” Copley said.
Copley said the staffing shortage is dangerous for both staff and inmates.
“Believe it or not, somebody has loved ones somewhere in the prison system in Iowa. We have to look after those individuals as well,” he said.
Copley said the state has to do more to help those doing dangerous work.
“You can work at McDonald’s for $20 an hour and not worry about getting stabbed, beaten or having urine thrown on you for that matter,” he said.
The LSA estimates it will cost nearly $2 billion to build the new prisons.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
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