New prisoners begin arriving at 'tent city'

RAYMONDVILLE — A total of 200 Bureau of Prisons minimum security prisoners have arrived at the “tent city” here, Willacy County Judge John F. Gonzales Jr. said.

He was updated on the facility’s progress this past during a visit he personally made to the complex, the judge said.

Before Sept. 10, the tent city, or “dome structures” housed illegal immigrants and, under an agreement with Management and Training Corp. of Utah, the income the county had hoped to gain from the facility fell far short of expectations, Gonzales said.

The county built the facility, but it is operated by MTC under a contract with the county, Gonzales said.

But a new agreement with MTC to hold U.S. Bureau of Prisons minimum-security inmates, rather than illegal immigrants, includes guarantees for the county that will provide much-needed income to supplement the county budget, Gonzales said.

Under the new agreement, the federal government pays $49 a day for housing a prisoner, Gonzales said. Payments on bonds that financed construction of the facility come from that fee first, then the county will receive $2.50 a day for each prisoner to bolster county finances. The balance then goes to MTC, he said.

The previous agreement to hold Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees depended on the number of inmates held at the facility to provide the county with income, Gonzales said. “It never reached 50 percent capacity,” he said.

If 1,380 prisoners or fewer are housed, the county will get a guaranteed payment of $1,259,250 a year, Gonzales said. That would be considered 50 percent capacity, he said.

“If the number of prisoners reaches 1,381 at this facility, we get $2,266,650 a year, which would be considered 90 percent full,” the county judge said.

“Even if it drops down to less than that, we still get paid $2,266,650 a year,” he said.

The maximum capacity of the tent city is 3,117 beds filled, Gonzales said. The county would get an additional $577,612 a year, for a total of $2,844,262 maximum possible payment to the county, he said.

Precinct 2 Willacy County Commissioner Noe Loya said he remains skeptical that the county will be able to refill its coffers and make up for deficit spending included in the new budget.

When asked by a reporter about the funding levels cited by Gonzales, Loya said he had not heard that much detail before.

“That’s the first time I heard those figures,” Loya said.

Because the county suffered financially under the first agreement begun in 2005 to house illegal immigrants in an agreement with ICE, he said he has learned not to bank on any profits going into the county treasury from the tent city, Loya said.

“I don’t believe in promises and figures until I see the money is in there,” he said of county coffers.

But Precinct 1 Commissioner Eliberto “Beto” Guerra said he likes the new agreement with MTC.

“Once we hit 50 percent (capacity), we’ll have that $1,259,250,” he said. “If we get 1,381, we’ll be at 90 percent,” Guerra said. “It’s pretty good, it’s a guaranteed contract. … We’re fortunate we were offered this opportunity.”

Bureau of Prisons officials have not yet responded to a list of questions from the Valley Morning Star, said Utah-based MTC spokesman Issa Arnita on Thursday.

Precinct 3 Commissioner Fred Serrato also said he likes the new arrangement to house minimum security federal prisoners in their last year of confinement.

“I think it will be a sure thing,” he said. I think it will be better than what we had with ICE (illegal immigrants),” Serrato said.

Precinct 4 Commissioner Dora Perez was not available for comment.

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Allen Essex writes for the Valley Morning Star in Harlingen.