By Christina Lords | Editor-in-Chief
“Immigration is constantly changing in so many different ways. The president has an influence. The courts are basically interpreting laws in different ways. It's always moving. So we get a different president, but I've never seen anything like this.” - Twin Falls attorney Brian Tanner
Maureen Newton waves as she uses binoculars to watch U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees board a plane on Aug. 11 at the Magic Valley Regional Airport. (Photo by Laura Guido/Idaho Capital Sun)
IMMIGRATION
Twin Falls ICE flight observers record more than 500 detainees flown out of Magic Valley airport
By Laura Guido
Around mid-day on a recent Tuesday in Twin Falls, a small plane landed on the tarmac at the Magic Valley Regional Airport but never taxied to the terminal.
Outside the fence surrounding the airport runway area, a group of five people watched through telescopes and binoculars as three white vans drove onto the tarmac. Around 20 men got out of the vans and boarded the plane as law enforcement oversaw the process, which took just over 30 minutes.
One man was escorted back off the plane and into a van.
According to a flight tracker, the plane then traveled to King County International Airport, or Boeing Field, which is located south of Seattle.
Similar flights, operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, happen every Tuesday and Thursday at the Magic Valley airport.
Gov. Brad Little, center, tosses dirt with a shovel next to Idaho State Police Col. Bill Gardiner, right, at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new forensics laboratory on Aug. 25, 2026. (Photo by Kyle Pfannenstiel/Idaho Capital Sun)
COURTS + POLICING
Idaho State Police want to speed up DNA tests. The state just broke ground on a new forensic lab.
By Kyle Pfannenstiel
State law enforcement officials broke ground Tuesday on a new forensics laboratory that they hope will improve the state’s already-fast processing of criminal forensics evidence.
And they hope that the $29 million forensics laboratory, based at Idaho State Police’s Headquarters in Meridian, will streamline lab services that are tapped by local and county law enforcement agencies across the state.
The Snake River flows alongside the Idaho Falls greenbelt. (Photo courtesy of Hyo Lee/U.S. Department of Energy)
COMMENTARY
Water is a missing element in the grand plan to build up the Idaho National Laboratory
By Jim Jones
There is no mention of where the water will come from to fuel the fantastic growth of the INL in the governor’s plan, writes guest columnist Jim Jones.
MORE REGIONAL AND NATIONAL NEWS FROM US
ICYMI
Shining a light on other Idaho politics reporting
Note: Some links may lead to stories behind a news organization's paywall
Boise State Public Radio: Fundraising heats up over abortion rights in Idaho
Coeur d’Alene Press: Former senator argues for end of Idaho property tax
Lewiston Tribune: Lewiston City Council OKs budget with no rise in property tax
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