A new Port of Centralia policy makes doubly sure that a detention center will never be hosted in either of the port's industrial parks located on the west side of Centralia.
The Centralia Port Commission approved a resolution during a Wednesday, Aug. 5, meeting to change the port master plan code to explicitly prohibit the siting of immigration detention centers in Port of Centralia parks one and two.
During the meeting, the Port Commissioners Ally Pickard and Peter Lahmann said the decision was more about business than politics.
“I don't want anybody to be frustrated and think that this is, you know, a political statement in some way,” Pickard said. “If you look at it from the business perspective, it doesn't work for us.”
Pickard went on to explain that she viewed the negative reputation of detention centers operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as detrimental to business and industry, describing the surroundings of a facility in Portland as a “ghost town.”
Lahmann added that zoning codes for the two industrial parks would effectively bar any type of detention center, even a jail or prison operated by a local entity.
The resolution approved by the commissioners further specifies that immigrant detention centers “conflict with the objectives, planning goals and policies” included in the port’s master plan.
The port master plan, which is managed by the port commission, sets zoning rules for the port's parks and is best tailored to parks one and two, which are its industrial parks. The port's newest park, which is known as Centralia Station and currently hosts WinCo Foods as its anchor tenant, is designed as a commercial park.
The resolution comes as no surprise after the port commission sent a letter to the City of Centralia during recent discussion on the Centralia warehouse moratorium pledging to not allow detention centers in the port's industrial districts.
In that letter, the port declared that it would pass a resolution announcing the prohibition of ICE detention facilities.
Pickard added during the Wednesday meeting that Centralia City Councilor Adriana Garibay has made a point of advocating for community members concerned with the possibility of a local immigrant detention center.
“She is a key leader within her community, and we have a large Hispanic population here, and it is a real fear for them,” Pickard said. “If we can put this sort of resolution in place to give more peace of mind … I really think that we need to pass this.”
Garibay has been the most vocal on the issue in local government, most recently asking that the council explicitly prohibit detention centers in the city during a special meeting of the council during which it voted to move forward with a proposal from the port to lift the moratorium on warehouses over 250,000 square feet or more.
