Federal immigration center expansion could ruin Willacy County's credit

RAYMONDVILLE — Some community leaders fear Willacy County’s credit could ruin if commissioners go ahead with plans for a $45 million expansion of a detention center to hold illegal immigrants.

“It’s just looking like a risky investment,” resident George Reoh said. “I haven’t seen anything that makes any sense. Someone’s going to be taken for a ride. You’d think you’ve got some real suckers on the line.”

Commissioners plan to construct a building to expand the county’s $60 million “tent city” complex, which holds 10 domed tents that can hold up to 2,000 illegal immigrants, County Judge Eliseo Barnhart said.

“That always concerns me — the new debt complied with the obligations of the first (detention center) being met,” said Billie Pickard, a former longtime Raymondville school board president.

Commissioner Aurelio Guerra warned that the federal government hasn’t held enough illegal immigrants in the detention center to help the county repay the bonds within a two-year period. But the proposed expansion project would help the county repay the $60 in municipal revenue bonds, Barnhart said.

“It doesn’t make sense. We can’t pay the $60 million and now we’re going to double it.

We’re going on the hook,” said Gene “Scooter” McGee, a former longtime county commissioner.

“Those are tax dollars. They’ve got disregard for everything.”

If the bonds aren’t repaid, default would force the county to turn over the detention center to investors who bought the bonds, said Ramon Vela, an attorney who represents the

Willacy County Local Government Corp., which oversees the detention center.

Default could damage the county’s credit, blocking its ability to sell bonds to fund future projects, said R.J. DeSilva, spokesman with the Texas Comptroller’s Office.

“It could be a factor,” DeSilva said.

To repay the bonds, the federal government must hold at least 1,800 illegal immigrants at the detention center, Guerra said. As part of a contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the government pays the county $2.25 a day for each illegal immigrant it holds in the detention center.

But the federal government has fallen short on projections, holding an average of 1,500 illegal immigrants here, Guerra said.

If the county builds the proposed 1,000-bed expansion, the project would feature two gymnasiums, a mess hall and 96 single cells that will spur the government to send more illegal immigrants here, Barnhart said.

That would help the county repay a debt as high as $105 million within five years, Barnhart said.

“I’m amazed. It just defies logic. You’re already behind the eight ball,” Pickard said. “It’s just a bird nest on the ground.”

McGee questioned why the detention center has failed to reach developers’ projections of an 1,800-head count.

“I don’t know where they’re going to get the extra people,” McGee said.

“Is it a vacation deal, or what? Why don’t we give them a swimming pool and tennis courts? We don’t need to give them that kind of luxury. These people are here illegal.”