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But the company has been in talks with the city manager’s office and the Tacoma Police Department, officials confirmed. They weren’t certain about the cost or timetable of expansion, but the company’s contract with the federal government for use of the Tacoma facility is set to expire in April 2009, according to the company’s Web site.

The expansion may fuel controversy over the facility, which has become a local flashpoint of the nation’s immigration debate. The detention center has been the subject of several protests in recent months, including some in downtown Tacoma.

“There’s a lot of debate of the function of the facility as it stands today,” City Manager Eric Anderson said. “Expanding that will only intensify that debate. It tends to get focused on the facility. The larger the role of the facility, the more intense the debate can get.”

Even if the city were opposed to the expansion, Anderson said, its status as essential public facility under the state’s Growth Management Act restricts Tacoma’s ability to prevent its growth.

The detention center holds immigrants detained throughout Pacific Northwest and is almost always at capacity, officials told The News Tribune in November. Many detainees enter federal custody after they’re arrested during raids or through Criminal Alien Program, in which federal officials take custody of illegal immigrants incarcerated in local or state jails or prisons.

The average stay at the detention center just over a month. An Executive Office for Immigration Review courtroom inside the facility hears the cases, and most detainees are deported to their countries of citizenship. About half of those in custody are routinely Mexican, but citizens from almost every country on earth have passed through the facility. The majority of detainees are held only for being in the country illegally.

ICE did not request the expansion of the facility, ICE spokeswoman Lorie Dankers said, and the current contract for use of the Northwest Detention Center still calls for The GEO Group to supply 1,000 beds.

The $115 million facility opened in 2004 with the ability to hold about 500 detainees, replacing a 160-bed center in Seattle. It has since expanded twice.

The company’s original contract with the government ran from April 2004-April 2005 but contained four one-year options, according to its Web site.

The GEO Group operates 67 facilities throughout the United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia and the United Kingdom. It also has plans to expand or build sites this year in Michigan, New Mexico, Texas, Mississippi and Colorado, according to a June conference call. Most of those sites are correctional facilities.

In a letter from Anderson to an engineering consulting firm working on behalf of The GEO Group, the city manager said Tacoma’s Public Works Department “no immediate issues with regards to impact on existing services” but added that company must undergo the full permitting process before expansion.

The Tacoma Police Department has met with officials from the detention center about the expansion, spokesman Mark Fulghum said.

He added that the few problems with the Northwest Detention Center have stemmed from protests.

“It’s not an issue as far as we’re concerned,” he said. “We’ve had no problems with the officials there. They’ve been great to work with.”

Originally published: July 3rd, 2008 09:18 AM (PDT)
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/updates/v-printerfriendly/story/404167.html