Latino influx shakes up Iowa’s political picture
Rapid growth fuels rhetoric in presidential race
BENNETT ROTH

HISPANICS IN IOWA

• 115,000: Number of Hispanics in Iowa

• 3.8 percent: Percent of state population

• 37 percent: Percent growth in Hispanic population between 2000 and 2005

• Between 55,000 and 85,000: Number of immigrants in state illegally

Sources: Iowa Division of Latino Affairs, Pew Research Center. Figures are estimates for 2005.

MARSHALLTOWN, IOWA — Colorful piñatas hang from the ceiling, and Spanish-labeled goods fill the shelves of Angel Regalado’s grocery in this rural town with a bulging immigrant community.

Many of his customers lived in Mexico a decade ago. But the influx of Latinos to Marshalltown, with its large meatpacking plant, and elsewhere across Iowa has changed the political dynamics in what was one of the most homogeneous states in America.

Now more than 115,000 Hispanics live in Iowa, comprising almost 4 percent of the state’s population of 3 million. Though their community is tiny by Texas standards, their numbers increased 37 percent between 2000 and 2005, according to the Iowa Division of Latino Affairs.

The rapid growth of Iowa’s Hispanic population, particularly the estimated 55,000 to 85,000 here illegally, has fueled a fierce debate in the state that will hold the first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses on Jan. 3.

Democratic converts

Amid the polarizing politics of immigration, the issue is cutting both ways.

Regalado said that for the first time since he came here 15 years ago, he will vote in the Democratic caucuses, possibly for Hillary Rodham Clinton. His reason: anti-immigrant rhetoric from the Republicans.

“They don’t care about good people,â€