SONORA, Texas — On Feb. 22, The Devil's River News reported that the City of Sonora plans to convert a garage connected to its police department to a holding facility for migrants.
The publication released the info as part of a larger recap of Sonora City Council's Feb. 20 meeting. Melissa Guerrero - a resident who owns a business near the police department and lives in the same area - said she and her neighbors had no notice that the facility would be built before the report.
Guerrero said she supports such a facility being built but wants it built somewhere else. The Police Department is also less than half a mile from several Sonora ISD schools.
"You don't want something like that on (sic) your backyard," she said. "I don't know many people that would."
Wednesday, Sonora's mayor, city manager and police chief appeared on a local radio station to discuss the planned facility. The City received a grant which will fund its construction, along with other equipment upgrades for the Police Department. Residents received an alert through Nixle roughly an hour and a half before the segment.
Ahead of the Mar. 18 City Council meeting, Guerrero said she is trying to organize a petition against the facility's construction. She said most people she spoke to did not know the City planned to build it.
The Sonora Police Department did not respond to a request for comment. FOX West Texas has also filed an information request to Sonora's City Council for the meeting agenda from Feb. 20. Neither the mayor, nor the City Council has responded to a request for comment.
