Gary unanimously rejects plans for $80 million immigration detention center

The vote climaxed a raucous meeting fraught with audience outbursts, council confusion, and silence from representatives of the The GEO Group, a private Florida-based company that operates detention facilities and prisons across the country.

GEO wanted to build an 800-bed detention center on 24 acres across from the Gary/Chicago International Airport. It had arranged, in a private agreement, to pay the Gary Economic Development Center a per-detainee fee of about $290,000 annually in addition to $100,000 in workforce training.

GEO officials sat quietly during the boisterous meeting. Pablo Paez, vice president for corporate relations for The GEO Group, issued a statement following the meeting:

"We are disappointed by tonight's vote. Our proposed facility would have been an $80 million investment in Gary, created hundreds of construction and full-time jobs, generated $1 million in new tax revenue without having to raise local property or business taxes, and created local contracting opportunities worth more than $1 million."

It wasn't known if GEO is considering other sites in Northwest Indiana.

Council President Ron Brewer, D-at-large, who hoped to defer the vote and hold a community forum, said the normal council hearing process was derailed by an April 19 vote. Typically, new ordinances are moved to a plan committee for review, but the motion to move them was defeated.

Brewer said he hoped to hear GEO officials explain their project, citing the potential for economic benefits he said the city desperately needs.

"We never heard from GEO," Brewer said. "Why should we let something like this pass when we have nothing to begin with."

Councilman Herb Smith, D-at-large, whose actions provoked confusion when he moved to bring the ordinances back to Wednesday's meeting, pushed for the project to go forward.

"I was willing to consider supporting this because of the lack of economic conditions," Smith said. He criticized employed people who dismissed the idea of a detention center that could have created jobs.

"We don't have many opportunities," Smith said. "We need to seriously look at our city."

Not all council members felt that way.

LaVetta Sparks-Wade, D-6th, said she was pleased to see the proposal fail. She said a corrections-like facility would only further harm Gary's public image.

"I disagree with the idea that we do not have the luxury of passing this up," she said, adding she thinks Gary can attract more worthy projects that would better benefit to the city. "I do not believe this is the best project that Gary can take up."

Michael Protho, D-2nd, said he has heard from too many constituents opposed to the idea to think of supporting the idea himself. "The citizens (of Gary) should have their way."

Of some two dozen people who addressed the council, only two were in favor of the idea. Most of the crowd that packed their way into City Hall opposed to the project.

Roy Dominguez, the former Lake County sheriff, was among its critics, saying it would create a negative image for Gary and would not be a benefit to anyone. "Law enforcement in this country does not need GEO," he said.

Gary/Chicago Airport board Chairman Stephen Mays said the proposed detention center would interfere with possible airport expansion. "We want to finish implementing the (airport development) plan now in place," he said.

Sparks-Wade said she thinks there is a natural idea for economic development in Gary – the George Lucas museum of pop culture. She said the "Star Wars" creator could be seeking a new location due to a lawsuit filed over a Chicago lakefront site.

"He's looking for a site, well we have one," she said.