IDAHO CITY -- Fourteen illegal immigrants were arrested and face deportation after being picked up at an Idaho City hotel. It happened late Tuesday night and now they're in the Ada County Jail. The men were working for a contracted employee of the U.S. Forest Service. They had been working for about 10 days, with one week left.According to the Forest Service, the contracted employer is Cutting Edge Forestry Inc. out of Talent, Oregon. The contractor is required to turn over paperwork regarding their employees and then the Forest Service sends that paperwork to the immigration office. ItÂ’s there that officials realized the men were in the country illegally.
Fourteen of Cutting Edge's 16 employees on the job site were arrested at the Idaho City hotel for not having proper documentation. The men were planting 500 acres of the forest, a portion of the 11,000 acres that burned in the Hot Creek Fire back in July 2003.
As spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement says they are focusing efforts on contracted employees since they tend to travel from job site to job site. The Ada County Jail recently contracted with the immigration office to detain illegal immigrants while they wait for deportation.