Immigrant holding facility to be built in Va.

By JAMIE C. RUFF
Media General News Service
Published: September 29, 2008

A 1,040-bed holding facility for illegal immigrants will be built in Virginia.

Construction on the $21 million, 125,000-square-foot facility is expected to begin in mid-October and be completed by June 30, with its opening days later.

The facility will employ almost 200 people, provide an $8.2 million payroll and generate $716,730 a year in taxes, a spokesman for the operation said.

Details about the facility were provided last week by the town and officials with the managing group, ICA-Farmville.

Richard Rocha, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said that the agency has an agreement with the Farmville operation to handle regional detainee transportation and also has negotiated a daily payment rate for any detainees that would be held at the facility. But, he said, “since that facility has not been built, ICE has not committed to having any detainees there.“

Rocha said the agency will continue to work with the Farmville operation, and local officials said they will meet all of the federal agency’s requirements.

Development of the facility has been discussed for about a year, and early on, some local residents gave it a cool reception. Hampden-Sydney College officials were concerned about the facility’s impact on the community, and members of the Farmville Area Chamber of Commerce said they did not have enough details to endorse the project.

Some residents, meanwhile, fretted that the facility could prompt relatives of those detained to relocate to Farmville and that detainees would stay in town after their release.

But officials with the operation said neither scenario is likely. Detainees are held a few months and ordinarily are sent home when released, said Robert Pugh, one of the operation’s department heads.

Ken Newsome, a spokesman for ICA-Farmville and one of the investors, said the contract to operate the facility is between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the town. ICA-Farmville is a subcontractor that will run the facility.

The immigration agency could relocate some of its Northern Virginia operation and up to 200 employees to an administrative building to be constructed on the grounds in 2010, Newsome said. But Rocha said any discussion about that “is very premature at this point.“

At 85 percent capacity the facility would generate $322,000 in revenue, and “certainly all indications are we will be up above that,“ Newsome said.

The Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission has provided two grants totaling $581,760 for water, sewer, road and parking-lot construction, and fencing.

“This is going to be a great project for our community,“ Town Manager Gerald J. Spates said.

Detainees usually do not want trouble and are often well-behaved, officials with the operation said. “These folks want to pursue the American dream,“ Newsome said. “Unfortunately, they didn’t follow the rules.“
Contact Jamie C. Ruff at (434) 392-6605 or .