The real 'Con Air' of Utah deports illegal immigrant criminals

Last Update: 4:14 pm

I.C.E. Agents Deport Criminal Aliens at Salt Lake International (Don Hudson, Don Hudson)

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) Thousands of illegal or undocumented immigrants live in Utah. While most work and live among without much notice - there are also hundreds of illegal immigrants who also criminals - convicted of felony crimes here in the U.S. The shooting of sheriff's deputy Josie Fox in Millard County is an example of this. She was allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant named Roberto Miramontes Roman. He was convicted of drug dealing and carrying a gun ten years ago and deported not once, but two times.

But not all criminal aliens escape the law. ABC 4 News was recently granted exclusive access to the deportation process here in Salt Lake City. We watched several vans loads of criminal aliens from jails and state prisons throughout Utah, Idaho and Montana get unloaded and processed here in Salt Lake City. They were searched - finger printed and locked up in holding cells. Salt Lake City Immigration and Custom Enforcement Field Director Steven Branch says all of the detainees had a "final order of removal" and his agents were doing just that.

But these are not just illegal immigrants - they are illegal immigrants who have been convicted of felony crimes - I.C.E. calls them criminal aliens. And Branch says "Over 90 percent of those going out are criminals. They have convictions. Some are serious crimes." Crimes like assault, murder, and drug trafficking. 19 year old Kelvin Navarro was busted for selling crack six month after he came to Utah from Honduras. "Estuve dos meces y media en salt lake, en el carcel." He told me he spent two and half months in jail in Salt Lake. And back home in Honduras - he faces more trouble because he's wanted for rape.

All of these illegal immigrants have similar stories. They were busted by local law enforcement agencies then I.C.E. agents "stepped in to make the determination if they are aliens and if they're removable." If they are deportable, they get loaded on a bus for a short trip to Salt Lake International Airport.

ABC 4 News was granted exclusive and unfiltered access to the process. Back in early February we were allowed on the tarmac and video taped the criminal aliens go through another search and a shackle and hand cuff check. Then we watched as they took their seat on ICE AIR - a chartered, $80,000, one way flight to the U.S. Mexico border. On the day we were there 41 criminal illegal immigrants were put on a plane. 39 were headed to Mexico. Two of the criminal aliens, including Navarro, were going to Central America.

It's a process that is repeated every week of the year here at Salt Lake International. And every week, ICE AIR flights across the country take four thousand two hundred convicted illegal immigrants out of the country. And the total number of convicted illegal immigrants being deported is really amazing. Last year, 3,387criminal aliens were removed from the Salt Lake area of responsibility. Nationwide that number was 136,126. That's basically 380 every day. When you see those numbers and watch the airplane fly away, it feels like the end of the story, but its not.

Every day countless immigrants cross our borders illegally. In the mix, dozens of criminal aliens, who have been arrested and busted here in the past. Branch says, with the border the way it is, it's next to impossible to know they are back. "We have no knowledge when they make their entry back here. There's nothing that triggers it. There's no notification - until that subject is encountered." "It's not like the person is flying into the airport, on a visa and being allowed in - they have done everything to evade the law." The most prominent local example is accused cop killer Roberto Miramontes Roman. He is in jail charged with fatally shooting Millard County Sheriff Deputy Josie Fox. He's also an illegal immigrant who served time for dealing drugs and carrying a weapon and has been deported two times.

Local community activist and former Director of Latino Affairs for Utah, Tony Yapias says the Deputy Fox shooting was a tragedy. He says it also had an immediate impact on the Hispanic community. "It's a devastating blow to the community. All of sudden blogs and comments are being made. They say everybody is criminal we need to deport everybody."

But Roman is not the only criminal alien to come back to Utah. 125 suspects were busted during two recent gang crackdowns and I.C.E. agents say at least 15 were previously deported criminal aliens. And during our exclusive look at the deportation process, we encountered four re-entry cases, including Jose Zaragoza, who was busted for dealing drugs in Salt Lake City and was on his 3rd deportation. "Vas a volver a Utah? No." I asked if he was coming back to Utah. He said, not this time - we'll see.

Branch says even though it is not easy to find criminal aliens, when they commit another crime more and more are getting caught, serving jail time and then getting kicked out of the country. In fact, Branch says in fiscal 2010, which includes October, November, December and January, 1002 criminal aliens have been removed - just from his area of responsibility. Yapias says the illegal or undocumented community here is glad to see all of them go. "By getting an undocumented immigrant, who is a criminal, it makes our community safer. And that's what our families want - to live in safe communities."

Yapias also knows many criminal aliens will keep trying to come back because nothing is being done about the border and immigration reform. He says that needs to change. "We got to do something about our laws so we can prevent people like Miramontes from coming back." And Branch adds - while its easy to focus on the ones - they didn't find - he likes to remind people of all the ones they did find.
"What Utah needs to realize that were keeping these people out of the communities. How many crimes have been prevented by these hundreds or thousands plus subjects serving in federal prisons and not preying on the community?"

And even when I.C.E. agents find criminal aliens, they don't always get removed. Some judges will deny deportation. The Supreme Court has ruled that if the home country refuses to take them back - they must be released after they serve their sentences here. And then there is the issue of the price tag. Branch says I.C.E. spends about $69 per day to hold suspected or convicted aliens in county jails in Utah. And the average number they are holding is right around 300. That's more than $20,000 per day.

For more information, go to http://www.ice.gov.

To watch an extended interview with I.C.E. Salt Lake City Field Director Steven Branch, click here.

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