Willacy OKs ‘Tent City’ bond sale: County to borrow $50.1 million to expand detention center

RAYMONDVILLE — Willacy County commissioners approved the sale of bonds to expand the 2,000-bed illegal immigrant detention center that some call Tent City.

Figures show that the county will borrow about $50.1 million, bringing its debt for holding federal detainees to $111.5 million.

In a meeting Tuesday, commissioners voted 4-1 to construct a 1,000-bed building, making the detention center the country’s largest.

As part of the deal, commissioners approved a refinancing plan for the $60.6 million “tent city” portion of the detention center that opened last summer, Commissioner Aurelio Guerra said.

The county has a contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which must be renewed annually, Guerra said.

Of the outstanding debt, the county will repay $54.8 million by September 2010, Guerra said, and $56.6 million by September 2028.

Municipal Capital Markets Group of Dallas will sell the bonds, Guerra said.

Guerra said he abstained from voting on the bond issue because he was presented with the project’s financial documents about two hours before the vote.

“(The amount of the debt) almost doubled,” Guerra said. “I don’t feel comfortable going into twice as much debt and doing it in just a 12-month period. The best way to track a business decision is through its history and we’re not giving it a chance.”

Like some local leaders, Billie Pickard said the county failed to give residents information about the deal’s details.

“I’m baffled,” said Pickard, a businesswoman who attended the meeting. “I felt very little facts were given. It doesn’t make sense business-wise. It’s pretty frustrating.”

The detention center’s expansion is expected to open about 200 to 250 jobs, Raymondville city officials said.

“I look at it as an economic opportunity,” said Commissioner Eddie Chapa, who voted to sell the bonds. “It’s an opportunity for Willacy County to get additional employment for the citizens of the county and more income to the county.”

As part of the deal, the government will pay the county $78 per day for each illegal immigrant it houses in the detention center, Guerra said. Out of the $78, $48 will go to repay the county’s debt, he said.

Under its plan, the county must hold at least 1,700 illegal immigrants in order to repay the bonds within 20 years, Chapa said.

“We would love to have 2,500 (illegal immigrants) but we know that’s not going to be — we have to have the room available in case there’s an influx,” Chapa said. “If we get 2,200 to 2,300, we’d be very happy.”

When developers planned the detention center last summer, they projected the government would hold an average of 1,800 illegal immigrants there, Michael Harling of Municipal Capital Markets Group said in an earlier interview.

But the numbers fell short, with the government holding an average of about 1,500 illegal immigrants, Guerra said.

Guerra argued that the county couldn’t repay the original $60.6 million debt within its two-year period without an average inmate count of 1,800.

But Harling has said the county’s payments are “up-to-date.”

County Judge Eliseo Barnhart failed to return several telephone calls requesting comment on the deal’s details.

County Commissioner Emilio Vera failed to respond to a message requesting comment.

Attorney Ramon Vela, the lawyer overseeing the county contract, failed to respond to messages requesting comment on the deal’s details.