Deporting illegal immigrants: Collier sheriff’s program puts 2,200 on ICE in two years

By ELYSA BATISTA, RYAN MILLS
Posted December 19, 2009 at 6 p.m.

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/dec ... er=popular

Editor’s note: First of two parts. Coming Monday: Families left behind.

NAPLES _ Palm trees line the roads and the beach is still a short drive away.

But it’s the little things that let Hilma Dimas know that she’s in the border city of Matamoros, Mexico, and no longer in Southwest Florida.

Parts of the city are dusty, roads are named after Mexican historical figures and iron bars dominate the windows in many neighborhoods. Instead of classic rock, it’s Tejano music that blares from the windows of neighboring cars, waiting to make the sometimes two-hour-long crossing into Brownsville, Texas.

Then there’s her accent.

“It’s the first give-away that I’m not a local,â€