Many citizens responded to a letter offeringMetraPark as a possible detention facility if federal law enforcement arrests illegal immigrant criminals.
Yellowstone County Commissioner Mark Morse, a Republican, says if detainees were to be accepted, they would be housed at the Montana Pavilion, the Expo Center, or one of the other smaller buildings.
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A lot of unknowns at this point and questions won't be answered until the federal government says that it wants to make use of the facilities at MetraPark.
“It's me basically saying, hey, if you need help, we have a facility that might work,” said Morse, who wrote the letter on his own.
Morse’s offer comes after President Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border on his first day in office for those who have entered the country illegally, including those involved in cartels, criminal gangs, and human trafficking.
“Unfortunately some of those people are here in Montana, in Yellowstone County, on our surrounding Native American Indian reservations,” Morse said.
Morse wrote to Montana's congressional delegation stating the commission would consider offering MetraPark for detaining illegal immigrants.
U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., immediately posted the letter on his X account on Thursday.
He stated: “I applaud Yellowstone County commissioners for the creative solution to help with the effort.”
Details are sparse about whether Metra's campus could even be converted, and several other local officials declined to comment Friday to MTN News.
MetraPark general manager Stoney Field said to direct all questions to Morse. Billings Mayor Bill Cole said he did not know much about the proposal and that the city had no involvement. Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder, a Republican, said he had just found out about it himself and could not comment.
After Morse's letter became public Thursday, many residents in Yellowstone County reacted negatively on social media, and some were at MetraPark Friday afternoon.
“If they don't separate them and all that kind of thing, I think there's good chance that there's going to be some issues,” said Steve Hawke.
“That is a burden that definitely should not fall on the counties, the states,” said Noel Hawke. “Policy changes in this regard are going to be large scale, but to throw the costs on the localities is wrong.”
And some citizens say they appreciate Morse's letter and Trump's declaration.
"They might not all be violent criminals, but they are all criminals because they've crossed the border illegally and there's other ways to go about that,” said Jennifer Olsen.
Some on social media said Morse’s letter was politically motivated in an effort to support Trump's policy.
“It's not politically motivated,” Morse said. “It's about making Yellowstone County a great place to live again.”
Morse told MTN if the federal government asked Yellowstone County to make Metra ready, he would then pass it on to the rest of the commissioners for discussion.
