BILLINGS — The president of the Billings Chamber of Commerce expressed concern Tuesday that a proposal to use MetraPark to house undocumented detainees could hurt the local economy by keeping visitors away from the venue, which is the largest in Yellowstone County.
“The average person is spending a couple of hundred dollars here a day in our community that's visiting. So, every group that we displace, every person that we displace by not being able to bring them into our community is going to be a huge impact to not only hotels, but restaurants, retails, and so many other third-party and auxiliary benefactors. That's purely what we're looking out for right now, are those businesses that depend so strongly on the success of MetraPark as an event venue," John Brewer, the chamber president, said after a MetraPark Advisory Board meeting.
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Brewer's comments were in response to a proposal from Yellowstone County Commissioner Mark Morse, who offered up MetraPark to house detainees captured following President Donald Trump's mass-deportation order. In a letter to Montana's GOP congressional delegation, Morse cited low jail space as a reason to consider the proposal. The federal government has not formally responded to the offer.
At the MetraPark advisory meeting, Brewer asked board members what they thought of the proposal.
Board member Charles Loveridge was the first to answer.
“I don't know the ins and outs, and I don't know exactly what they're doing yet. I'm sure that's something that will be made available to us on the board soon,” Loveridge said.
Brewer's focus is on the potential economic impact if events are postponed or delayed at the Metra if the grounds are used to hold undocumented immigrants.
"Tourism is about a $625 million a year economic driver. And so our purpose as the chamber in Visit Billings is just to do what we can to support business, to make sure that money's coming in, that these businesses are being supportive," Brewer said. “It's just important that we look at our assets, our venues such as MetraPark, to be used for their core purpose of mission, which is really to bring people to town, to offer quality of life for our community and to generate revenue.”
The chamber does not have an official stance to the matter, according to Brewer.
There are still many unknowns about what this would look like, if it does happen. Yellowstone County Commissioner John Ostlund said commissioners are focusing on crime.
"Crime has been the number one issue that owns Montana and Yellowstone County for the last two years. We're building a $8 million addition onto the jail right now. We're looking at maybe a $200 million or more expansion of the jail and crime issue for the public," Ostlund said. "This is simply whole-field conversation, may or may not happen. We're not a highly populated area. Probably nothing will come of it. But I tell you what, this was all simply about crime and I won't make anything else. Racism isn't. There's a lot of BS going around. Simply about crime. We want less criminals here."
