A new immigration court will be created to help handle cases from Iowa. There are currently 54 immigration courts in 25 states but the closest to Iowa are in Chicago and Bloomington, Minnesota, and right now cases are often handled by teleconference with a judge in Chicago. Three new immigration courts are being created, one of them in Omaha.
Department of Justice spokesman Charles Miller says the location of the courts reflects the level of caseloads. The closest immigration courts to Omaha are Chicago and Denver and needless to say there are sufficient number from the general Omaha area in the Midwest, with people having to go to Chicago or Denver, that it warrants a new court in this area.
The other two new ones are in Kansas City and Charlotte, North Carolina. The Justice Department says about 80-percent of the cases involve deportations, though they also handle employment cases, reviews of U.S. residency, and requests for asylum. The department estimates about 85,000 illegal immigrants are living in Iowa today.