WILSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WTVF) — It has been a chaotic couple of weeks in Wilson County.
Questions swirled about whether U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would build a massive immigrant detention center in Lebanon.
Elected officials were caught off guard when ICE announced it planned to convert an abandoned warehouse into the largest immigrant detention facility in the country.
Wilson County Mayor Randall Hutto said massive public opposition to the center is what led to ICE deciding not to come to Wilson County.
Passion poured out when hundreds attended a Wilson County Commission meeting earlier this week.
"I feel much safer with undocumented immigrants than I ever will ICE Agents," one man said at a podium during the public comment period.
Wilson County Mayor Randall Hutto said on Inside Politics he learned about the detention center plans only after early media reports saying it was coming.
"Many people thought, well, they knew about it all along. But we did not know about it," Mayor Hutto said.
He and other elected officials requested a meeting with officials from the Department of Homeland Security after the early media reports.
"And that was our first conversation with them that confirmed this is for real. They are looking at a facility that we have here in Wilson County primarily in Lebanon, Tennessee," Hutto said.
He said it is not unusual for businesses to keep large land purchases secret because they don't want property owners to increase the price of land.
"A lot of times we are last to know," Mayor Hutto said.
DHS told him it needs to build 8 large immigrant detention centers across the country.
They found an abandoned warehouse in Lebanon they planed to convert - to house up 16,000 immigrants waiting to be deported.
Communities in other states, including Mississippi and New Hampshire, have fought against the centers, and Wilson County did too.
"It was sitting near four of our schools here in the county, two churches, a daycare and then of course each school has a daycare, so for me the safety factor was very much a problem," Mayor Hutto said.
He also said the county did not have the 4000 workers needed to staff a detention center like that - or the infrastructure.
"There are places probably in this state that would love the economic impact and would love the jobs. But this location was just not right," Mayor Hutto said.
In the end ICE backed off and said it would not come to Wilson County, but emphasized it will continue its immigration crackdown.
Hutto was asked on Inside Politics, "Is it hypocritical to support the immigration crackdown and not support a facility like this?"
Mayor Hutto responded, "There's probably many people that have their views on either side of this issue."
He went on to say opposition to the project was not about opposition to the immigration crackdown.
"We had to speak out for the citizens of our county and probably what is best overall, and that was the best decision for us," Hutto said.
You can see the entire un-edited interview on Inside Politics which airs at 7pm Friday on NewsChannel 5 Plus and then throughout the weekend.
You can also listen to the interview in the Inside Politics podcast. Just enter Inside Politics Nashville and start listening.
