Members of a Facebook page for Republicans in Dallas County appear to be the victims of anti-immigrant lies deployed against Perry and its Latino residents.
A post appearing Sunday on the Dallas County GOP Group page claimed a “rally for illegal immigrants” was held Saturday at the First Christian Church in Perry, where organizers provided “a photo ID” and “mail-in voting packets” and “told everyone there to vote for Harris,” even filling in the bubbles for the non-English speakers in the crowd.
The post was shared to the page by someone using the name Bj James, an administrator of the page, and Dallas County GOP Chair Kelley Koch was tagged in James’ post.
Responding Monday morning, the Rev. Andrea Brownlee, pastor of the First Christian Church in Perry, said the post was filled with “false accusations” about the Central Iowa Community ID event, which was held at the church from 1-3 p.m. Saturday.
“Nothing illegal happened here Saturday,” Brownlee said. “No voting occurred and no voter registration.” She said the group last visited Perry two years ago and returned now to renew the IDs, which expire after two years.
According to the Central Iowa Community ID group’s website, the ID card “is not a government-issued form of ID or a driver’s license, but it is a verifiable form of identification that says you are a part of our community. It can be used as a tool by local law enforcement to better identify, serve and protect you, and it may be accepted by health centers, schools, businesses and other city and county agencies – depending on the policy of each.”
The ID card project is sponsored by A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy (AMOS), the Story County Coordination Committee and the Marshall County Community Response Coalition. Some of the project’s supporters include the Ames Police Department, Story County Sheriff’s office, Amnesty International, Ames Collegiate United Methodist Church/Wesley Foundation, Central Iowa Community Response Coalition, Ames Public Library, Central Iowa Psychological Services, Latinx Immigrants of Iowa (Des Moines), Mary Greeley Medical Center, McFarland Clinic, Ames First Christian Church, Ames St. Cecilia Catholic Church, Ames St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, Ames United Church of Christ, Immigrant Allies of Marshalltown, Iowa Unitarian Universalist Witness/Advocacy Network, Nevada Memorial Lutheran Church and Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ames.
The post on the Dallas County GOP Group Facebook page also falsely claimed that an officer of the Perry Police Department “said that Perry was a ‘Sanctuary City'” and “announced” that anyone pulled over with a Central Iowa Community ID card “would be allowed to drive on with no charges.”
Perry Police Chief Eric Vaughn issued a statement Monday in order to “clarify misinformation” circulating about Saturday’s Central Iowa Community ID event and the “non-government form of identification” issued by the group.
“The Perry Police Department was not at the event, and no one from our department made any statements,” Vaughn said. “The ID card that was issued would not be accepted in lieu of a state issued driver’s license, and anyone stopped driving without a valid license may be cited.”
Vaughn also rejected the false claim that Perry is a “Sanctuary City.”
“The city of Perry is not a sanctuary city nor is any other city in our state to my knowledge,” he said. “Our department complies with state codes, in regard to cooperating with the federal agencies charged with enforcing federal immigration laws.”
Vaughn sought to assure the residents of Perry, Latino and non-Latino, that the Perry Police Department would “continue our work to serve all of the persons living and visiting our community both fairly and ethically. We are proud of our community. It’s cultural and ethnic diversity is a large part of what makes Perry great.”
Hysterical reactions to the disinformation were common in the GOP Group on Facebook. For example, a person using the name of Jennifer Briggs of Waukee said, “Nothing pisses me off more than this. Thousands of us have already been canceled out as law abiding tax paying citizens by votes of people who have no right to elect our rulers and don’t abide by our same rules. Rep Carter Nordman says this can’t happen here. MAYBE they should start caring. What is the point of voting or helping people get elected by doing hours upon weeks upon months of work to reach even a thousand iowa citizen voters on their behalf – if they just don’t care when we get canceled and won’t acknowledge why and how it happens . . . we and our work is being cancelled by non citizens voting and their votes counting. MAN UP IOWA LEADERS!!!!! This is the hill to die on.”
Jim, thank you for bringing this outrage to light. It is great to get the truth to the public.
Thank you for your support.