--- ---  # Iowa State Senator Mark Chelgren Suggests Death Penalty for Some Immigrant Felons by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Dec 2, 2015 5:05 AM UTC  In this Feb. 10, 2015, photo is State Sen. Mark Chelgren, R-Ottumwa, at the Statehouse in Des Moines, Iowa. In this Feb. 10, 2015, photo is State Sen. Mark Chelgren, R-Ottumwa, at the Statehouse in Des Moines, Iowa.Charlie Neibergall—AP by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Dec 2, 2015 5:05 AM UTC An Iowa state senator running for U.S. Congress is getting blasted by both his Republican Party and Democrats after saying that immigrant felons who try to re-enter America illegally should be executed. State Sen. Mark Chelgren’s controversial comments were published [Monday by the Journal Express of Knoxville and Marion County](http://www.journalexpress.net/news/chelgren-is-running-for-congress/article%5F164bcab8-9788-11e5-bc5b-af7102348784.html), which presented his views on border security and immigration. The newspaper said the two-term state legislator believes in a fence to help protect the nation’s borders, and that if an undocumented person who committed a felony is deported and then tries to return to the U.S., he or she should… [_Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/iowa-state-sen-mark-chelgren-certain-immigrant-felons-should-be-n472491?cid=par-time%5F20151202) Iowa: State Senator Suggests Death Penalty for Some Immigrant Felons ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4132231/iowa-mark-chelgren-immigrant-felons-death-penalty/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4132231/iowa-mark-chelgren-immigrant-felons-death-penalty/"},"headline":"Iowa State Senator Mark Chelgren Suggests Death Penalty for Some Immigrant Felons","datePublished":"2015-12-02T05:05:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:01:46.857Z","description":"Officials with the Republican Party of Iowa sought to distance themselves from his remarks","url":"https://time.com/4132231/iowa-mark-chelgren-immigrant-felons-death-penalty/","keywords":["Immigration"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98fd81caae1cefd4/698873630a4a22110e9c747c/ap_187277753480.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98fd81caae1cefd4/698873630a4a22110e9c747c/ap_187277753480.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Mark Chelgren","caption":"Mark Chelgren","creditText":"Charlie Neibergall—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/immigration/","name":"Immigration"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4132231/iowa-mark-chelgren-immigrant-felons-death-penalty/","name":"Iowa State Senator Mark Chelgren Suggests Death Penalty for Some Immigrant Felons"}}]}] ```