Need more answers on immigrant detention center

• Reprints

Updated: February 18, 2012 8:13AM

The hot-button issue of illegal immigration has ignited in the Southland, where a controversial immigrant detention center has been proposed in Crete.

How advanced the plan is remains unclear, as is the case with various aspects of it. But what is clear is that officials of the village and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have been much too secretive about it.

ICE’s plan calls for a 750-bed, medium-security center for suspected illegal immigrants awaiting deportation, most of whom now are held at county jails. It would be built and run by a private for-profit corporation, as selected by the village, on a site that’s zoned for light-industrial use.

Crete would benefit financially because the center would pay property tax; inmates would be considered village residents, providing per-capita tax income from the state; and the village would get a cut of the profits from its operation.

While Mayor Michael Einhorn and ICE representatives say the center is only under discussion, the village administrator has said the village and Corrections Corp. of America submitted a proposal to ICE in November 2010 and have received tentative approval for the center. Seems beyond the talking stage to us.

Einhorn said the village would hold a public hearing before committing to the detention center, but it seems he adopted that stance only after public opposition surfaced.

Such a hearing should’ve been held by now to prevent the rumor mill from working overtime and to provide answers about how secure the center would be, CCA’s record of running such facilities, whether those charged with crimes would be held there, how it would affect residents’ property values and just how much Crete would benefit financially.

We see potential merit in such a center but can’t be sure until we get more information regarding the above issues and others. Crete and CCA should fully disclose their plan and hold that public hearing ASAP.