Edited release
10/09/26
Lutheran Bishop Amy Current and United Methodist Bishop Kennetha J. Bigham-Tsai are calling on Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to stop Iowa City woman Fatou Traore’s deportation, release her from immigration detention, and reunite her with her four children.
The bishops also contacted Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst and Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Ashley Hinson, asking for immediate intervention. Their October 7 letters join earlier appeals from Davenport Catholic Bishop Dennis Walsh on October 3 and Rep. Miller-Meeks on September 30, strengthening the growing demand to free Traore.
The three bishops’ combined church membership is more than 231,000 Iowans—roughly one in every 14 people in the state and nearly 1 in every 10 Iowans of voting age.
Traore, an Iowa City mother and University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics worker who has lived in the United States for more than 20 years, is detained at Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana. Originally from the Ivory Coast, she was granted withholding of removal by an immigration judge in 2011. She reportedly faces deportation to Sierra Leone, a country where she has no ties. Her attorney has requested a stay of removal. Her youngest child is three years old.
The letters come as community pressure grows. On Wednesday, over 100 people marched to the Cedar Rapids federal building chanting “Free Fatou Now.” Six adults and 10 children were allowed inside, where Traore’s family spent more than 2½ hours meeting with staff for Hinson, Grassley, and Ernst to demand immediate action.