Josh Turek, the Democratic Party nominee for U.S. Senate in Iowa, recently called for an easier pathway to citizenship for foreign nationals — including some of the millions who entered the country under former President Joe Biden — and an increase in immigration to compete for American jobs.
“We need an easier pathway to earn citizenship so we can bring in more workers. This is a state that’s really struggling,” Turek said while speaking during a town hall event on September 9 in Des Moines. He listed the healthcare, agricultural, and meat-packing plants as industries that need more cheap foreign labor.
In addition, Turek called on the Senate to pass the Dignity Act, a de facto amnesty bill that would provide expanded pathways to citizenship for millions of foreign nationals.
If passed, the legislation would provide legal residence status to all individuals who entered the United States illegally prior to the beginning of President Joe Biden’s term in 2021. Illegal aliens would be forced to submit to background checks and pay fines for years stayed in the United States illegally, at which point they would receive legal status.
The bill would also accelerate green card handouts, provide pathways to citizenship for foreign students and outright amnesty for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients. In total, the bill provides a pathway to citizenship for upwards of 11 million illegal aliens.
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Turek’s campaign website frames the issue as a broken federal system that, in his view, can be fixed without treating border security and legalization as opposites. The site states that the country “deserve
In practice, however, Turek’s campaign goals hardly differ from the Biden-backed border proposal in 2024, which would have provided paltry increases to border security while allowing thousands of foreign nationals to enter the country on a daily basis. His campaign website also calls for increased scrutiny of federal immigration agents and only prioritizes deporting illegal aliens with expanded criminal records.
That language matches statements Turek has made in debates and interviews. In a May 2026 Democratic Party primary debate with then-rival Zach Wahls, Turek said immigration was “deeply personal,” noting that he is married to an immigrant from the Dominican Republic and that the couple’s legal process was lengthy and costly.
He also stated that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) needs “fundamental reforms” because current practices are, in his words, “inhumane” and “un-American.”
Turek, a state representative from Council Bluffs and a two-time Paralympic gold medalist, is running against Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson for the Senate seat being vacated by Senator Joni Ernst. Recent polling has pegged the race as a close contest despite the state’s Republican lean in recent cycles, while a number of election forecasters have graded it as a toss-up.
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[ H/T Trending Politics ]
