Detention facility could grow; residents anxious

Philip Franchine, The Sahuarita Sun

The Town Council on Monday heard an outpouring of concern by residents about a potential prison-like facility north of town and appointed a task force to meet with Tohono O’odham Nation officials to gather information for future negotiations.

The Town Hall chambers were packed and about a dozen residents told the council they felt the facility was a threat to their safety and peace of mind. They almost uniformly asked the council to take a firm approach in seeking to have the facility relocated.

The leaders of a petition drive that gathered more than 1,200 signatures in about a week, Linda and Dewey Cooper and Julia and David Whetton, were given a standing ovation at the request of Town Council member John Sullivan. Sullivan said that further community participation may be needed to apply pressure in the future.

The meeting came just hours after the Tohono O’odham Nation announced the 750-bed facility north of Rancho Sahuarita could be expanded to 1,500 beds. San Xavier District Chairman Austin Nunez said the facility could provide $60 million in economic activity during construction and would add 300 permanent jobs in the initial phase.

He said in the release that the center north of Pima Mine Road near the Santa Cruz River would serve primarily as “a holding facility for individuals awaiting repatriation to their country of origin rather than those convicted of serious crimes.”

The council Monday night heard from state and federal officials, who said the tribe appears to be trying to develop a private detention center as an economic development venture on a speculative basis and without having contacted the Border Patrol or U.S. Marshal’s Service, which might be sources of detainees.

“It’s not a small building,” said Linda Cooper, who lives in northern Rancho Sahuarita and can see the site from her home. “The Tohono O’odham Nation has 2.8 million acres, comparable to the state of Connecticut, yet they want to put it in our back yard... Most of the 2.8 million acres is uninhabited -— they do not need to put it next to one of top 10 master planned communities in the country.”

State Rep. Frank Antenori (R-Dist. 30) said that his understanding from talking to San Xavier District Chairman Austin Nunez was that the location was chosen because of existing infrastructure, including a road and access to water and electricity.

“I asked why not on put it the far side of I-19, say at Papago Road. He said there is no infrastructure there to support it. It’s excessively expensive” to put it in place, Antenori said.

The task force will include Mayor Lynne Skelton, Vice Mayor Phillip Conklin, Town Council members Marty Moreno and Scott Downs and Town Manager Jim Stahle.

Ron Barber, district director for U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, said his office has contacted the Tribe and the Department of Homeland Security and has offered the town help “gathering facts, seeking alternative solutions” or joining the discussion.

Skelton said she had spoken to Nunez and that he is willing to meet with town officials after a draft environmental assessment is complete, some time after May 1. There were on representatives of the Nation at Monday’s meeting.

Britann O’Brien, from the Tucson office of Sen. Jon Kyl, said she has contacted the U.S. Marshal Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and neither had a role in the project. Border Patrol Division Chief of Operations John M. Fitzpatrick said his agency has had no contact with the Nation on this proposal, but said the Border Patrol does not plan or operate prisons or other detention facilities.

Meanwhile, the San Xavier District of the Nation issued a press release Monday that said it “planned” to build the facility, while another statement came from the Nation’s tribal headquarters that said the project is “a work in progress” and that the District is gathering information on the impacts on surrounding communities “in the event they (District officials) move forward with the detention facility.”

“I’m angered and determined to make our voices heard,” Julia Whetton told the crowded council chamber. “We can work with the Tohono O’odham Nation San Xavier District to find a more appropriate location and if indeed it is built across the street, let’s ask our state representatives and Border Patrol not to support it, not to use federal money to fund the detention center.”

Antenori said it could come down to money.

“As vice-chair of the (House) transportation and infrastructure committee, maybe we can find state funding and work with Congresswoman Giffords and Senators Kyl and McCain to assist them with putting in infrastructure to encourage to put it somewhere else,” Antenori said.

pfranchine@sahuaritasun.com | 547-9738