Idaho airport a hub for deported illegal immigrants

05:31 PM MDT on Sunday, March 30, 2008

Associated Press

TWIN FALLS - Many undocumented immigrants rounded up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials make a stop in Twin Falls before being deported or taken to hearings elsewhere.

Steven Branch is ICE's Salt Lake City-based director of detention and removal and his office handles an average of 3,750 removals per year from Utah, Nevada, Idaho and Montana.

The Twin Falls Times-News reports that since March 2003, immigration agents have arrested and detained 3,355 immigrants in six south-central Idaho counties.

Those who fight deportation and lose are sent home under a removal order. They face a felony charge if they return to the US.

Others are returned to their native countries and frequently return several more times to the U.S.

About once a week, an unmarked jetliner takes detainees to El Paso, Texas, or Phoenix, Arizona, for deportation hearings or transfer to their home countries
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