DES MOINES, Iowa — As positive COVID-19 cases disproportionately continue to rise in Iowa, statewide organizations and community organizers are calling for Governor Kim Reynolds to include additional information targeting the immigrant community.

The Iowa Department of Human Rights continues to offer translations of statewide updates and orders in various languages. Jeannette Brown, commissioner for the Office of Latino Affairs, says the governor should be offering these resources directly on the state’s COVID-19 website.

“There’s a lot of confusion going on. A lot of the websites and the tools that we have available are English only, so it’s kind of hard even for us to direct people where to go, so we’re finding ourselves doing this one on one, trying to explain what’s going on and what are the services available,” said Brown.

Community Organizer Kenia Calderon says although the addition of an ASL interpreter is good for the community, so would immediate translations of the governor’s daily press conferences. Currently the state’s COVID-19 website only has a link to CDC’s website where general information can be found in various languages.

“I think a perfect example for that is my own parents. They want to be informed. They get all these alerts for state news. But at the end of the day they have to wait until myself or one of my siblings translate that information to them,” said Calderon.

Brown says the Office of Latino Affairs works daily to push out Spanish language translations of the governor’s press conferences, but it leaves no room for the Latino community to ask follow-up questions.

“At this point, what the governor fails to see is that the minority population is not getting the information to practice social distancing, to stay home … They don’t know anything about the income relief programs and that affects everyone else in the state,” said Brown.

According to Rafael Morataya, executive director of the Center for Worker Justice, immigrant workers are being left in the dark when it comes to their rights, and it’s not just the Latino population.

“The reality is that we have people from Congo, Sudan, we have people from Bosnia, Somalia, and people from all over the world are here,” said Morataya.

According to Brown and Calderon, there are also questions being left unanswered about testing in the undocumented community. Brown says there are a lot of gray areas, leaving undocumented Iowans unsure if they will meet the criteria to get access to testing. There is also a financial factor, as many undocumented persons don’t have health care.

“I am certain that the financial factor is something that they’re thinking about is, you know, they’ve been laid off. How are they going to be able to afford to pay for treatment or if they’re able to be seen by a doctor,” said Calderon.

Both Brown and Morataya are calling on the state for more immediate action to protect immigrant workers, especially as positive cases continue to rise among workers in meat packaging plants across the state.

“I’d be more than happy to talk to anybody from the governor’s office and to be able to partner with them to help to bring this information out to the Latino community because it’s really needed and is going to benefit all of us,” said Brown.

Resources Available to Immigrants in Iowa

Multilingual Hotline: Available Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (877) 558-2609

Grocery Delivery: Knock and Drop Iowa is volunteer organization that delivers groceries to elders, single parent households, and immigrant families who have lost their jobs. To donate click here.

The Iowa Immigrant Emergency Fund: The American Friends Service Community has created this emergency fund to help undocumented families who will not benefit from the CARE act because of their status. To donate click here.