NORTHWOOD, Iowa (AP) — Iowans attending a forum Wednesday hosted by Sen. Chuck Grassley started to turn on each other as the lawmaker faced heated questions about President Donald Trump ‘s first months in office.
The room of about 100 people in north-central Worth County, near the Minnesota border, was largely critical of the administration and peppered Grassley with questions about mass deportations, including Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s, Elon Musk and cuts to the federal workforce and tariffs.
But when one woman used her turn to apologize to Grassley for “all the grief you’ve gotten this morning,” it offered a glimpse at the deep-seated political rifts running through even the smallest U.S. communities.
Some exchanged expletives, almost posturing for a fight. There were shouts between audience members to “shut up.” Others took out their phones to record the moment.
“I’ve had enough of you Democrats,” she said to jeers and retorts from her neighbors.
Grassley, with his hands on his hips, listened. He shook her hand when she held it out to him.
After another audience member reminded the crowd that Garcia is just one example of the mass deportations, Grassley invoked the wave of border crossings under former President Joe Biden.
“I think it’s pretty clear that what’s been brought up about Garcia, and … about many, many other people, that this wouldn’t even be an issue if Biden had enforced the law,” Grassley said.
Some applauded, but most responded with outrage, booing and shouting back a rebuttal.
Even before that moment, Grassley struggled to satisfy frustrated Iowans Wednesday and in recent town halls with his answers on what Congress is doing to check the executive or judicial branches of government. He references bills he’s introduced, including one that would require presidents to justify future tariffs and another to block judges’ orders that temporarily pause a law from extending to the entire country.
But Garcia’s mistaken deportation in particular has carried the most heat, with Iowans at several of Grassley’s town halls in counties that Trump won overwhelmingly pressing their longtime senator on due process.
That issue is what led Kumar Wickramasingha to attend his first town hall with Grassley last week in southeast Fort Madison. The 62-year-old immigrated to the U.S. from Sri Lanka in 1986 and has since lived in the small Iowa town and become a naturalized U.S. citizen. He said he feels scared again for the first time since he left Sri Lanka.
“I see all the time that people are getting picked up,” Wickramasingha said. He wanted Grassley to “assure people like me nothing will happen,” that he won’t “end up in an El Salvador prison.”
On Wednesday, the first question on Garcia came from Keith Olson, a retired farmer who lives just outside of Northwood. He later told The Associated Press that people are angry, even in rural Iowa, and he wants to see Grassley and other leaders have a “backbone” and “stand up and speak the truth.”
“It’s gonna play out in the courts,” Grassley offered to the crowd in response to Olson. “The president has to follow the U.S. Supreme Court.”
“He’s not doing that!” one person yelled.
Another asked: “Where is your outrage?”
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Fingerhut reported from Des Moines, Iowa.
