The Tohono O'odham Nation of Arizona won't move the site of a proposed detention facility despite off-reservation opposition, a tribal leader said.

The tribe plans to build the center in the San Xavier District. The site is near the town of Sahuarita, whose residents are up in arms over the project.

"I believe we're too far down the road," district chairman Austin Nuñez told The Arizona Daily Star.

Nuñez said his community supports the project, which would mainly house immigrants that are being transported back to their home countries. A Texas company has won a $50 million contract to build the 750-bed, 140,000 square-foot detention facility.

The site is part of the Tohono O'odham Nation but is owned by individual tribal members, Nuñez said.

Get the Story:
US detention facility plans keep rolling (The Arizona Daily Star 5/12)
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