CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — After dozens of people attended the Cedar Rapids City Council meeting on Tuesday to protest the city giving a fence permit to the Department of Homeland Security, city officials on Wednesday said they are correcting a mapping “anomaly” to no longer require that permit.
The immigrant advocacy group, Escucha Mi Voz Iowa, responded by issuing a statement, calling out the city for “bending over backwards to give ICE and Homeland Security the fence they want to hide deportations instead of standing up to protect and defend the city’s own residents.”
Advocates have for years gathered on the small green space outside the Cedar Rapids ICE office, 3351 Square D Dr. SW, to pray, accompany neighbors to check-ins and bear public witness against deportations, the group noted in its statement.
Related: See photos from a peaceful demonstration outside the ICE office
Supporters of Pascual Pedro hold signs July 9, 2025, outside of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Advocates spoke out at the Oct. 7, 2025, council meeting against the city’s decision to issue a permit for a fence to be built on public right-of-way, which would put those residents in harm’s way, undermine the First Amendment and veil deportations, community members said.
The city subsequently issued the following update on Oct. 8:
“During the issuance of an obstruction permit for the public right-of-way at 3351 Square D Drive SW, City staff identified an anomaly in the property boundaries: the public right-of-way appeared unusually wide compared to adjacent parcels. Staff performed a detailed review, tracing the correct boundary to the 1974 recorded deed. Staff confirmed the boundary had been misinterpreted in digital mapping tools and verified this through subsequent documentation, including a 2009 retracement survey and a 2018 easement document. The City coordinated with Linn County to correct the official records and the parcel has now been updated in the Linn County GIS system.”
“As a result,” the update noted, “the location of the fence proposed in the permit application will be entirely on private property and an obstruction permit is no longer required.”
The city of Cedar Rapids included these maps in its update on Oct. 8, 2025.
Escucha Mi Voz Iowa, a faith-based, immigrant-led nonprofit, said the sudden correction “conveniently shifts the disputed lawn from public to private property and clears the way for ICE’s fence without public oversight.”
“Let’s be clear: this isn’t a ‘mapping correction,’ it’s political cowardice,” said Escucha Mi Voz member and Cedar Rapids resident Abby Long-Williams. “When ICE wanted a fence to hide deportations, the City of Cedar Rapids moved the line to make it happen. That’s not protecting residents, that’s bending over backwards for Trump and enabling ICE to cut off immigrants from the resources and support they need to survive.”
The city’s sudden change undermines those First Amendment and religious-freedom activities and signals that local leaders are willing to serve federal deportation interests over community well-being, the group said.
“The City’s job is to defend its people, not redraw maps for Homeland Security,” Long-Williams said. “If Cedar Rapids won’t stand up to ICE, Escucha Mi Voz will. That’s our line in the sand. We won’t stop fighting until ICE is out of Iowa.”
More: See photos from a previous Cedar Rapids demonstration
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