O’odham weigh options after judge denies bid to block border wall on S Az reservation

Tohono O’odham Nation leaders are exploring their legal options after a federal judge denied the nation’s request to temporarily halt construction of a so-called “Smart Wall” on its southern border with Mexico, which stretches for more than 80 miles in Southern Arizona.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon denied a temporary injunction filed by the tribe.

The move by the tribe was intended to stall the Trump administration from beginning work on a wall along the border of the United States and Mexico as a lawsuit filed by the tribe filed in June.

The planned border barriers would cleave through 62 miles of the tribe’s reservation southwest of Tucson.

The suit alleges that it would essentially halve the nation, which stretches across the border into Mexico — separating families, impeding religious ceremonies, devastating the ecosystem and destroying sacred sites and mountains ranges. The Baboquivari Mountains are believed to be home to creator god I’itoi.

“On behalf of the Tohono O’odham Nation, we strongly disagree with this ruling. Too many critical issues were not adequately addressed, such as inevitable impacts construction will have on the nation’s land and the permanent destruction of sacred sites. The nation will consider all possible options for moving forward, as this issue is simply too important to the O’odham,” said tribal Chairman Verlon Jose in a news release Friday.

“We have lived in this region since time immemorial. There is no doubt this wall will desecrate countless sacred areas, burial sites, and other important locations. There have been countless examples in recent years, such as the grading of the thousand-year-old Las Playas intaglio, dynamiting ancient burial sites at Monument Hill, and the ongoing damage to Quitobaquito Springs. The proposed double wall on the nation will have impacts much broader than the 60-foot limit cited in the ruling,” he wrote.

Jose went on to say the nation will continue pursuing “common sense” solutions for border security “without destroying our heritage, cultural sites and natural environment.”

Matt Smith, a spokesperson for the Tohono O’odham Nation, also confirmed its attorneys are considering an appeal of Leon’s decision.

‘A permanent, scarring impact’

The Tohono O’odham filed a lawsuit on June 17 against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, seeking to ban construction of the wall through their tribal territory altogether. The nation filed the preliminary injunction, asking Leon to block the federal government from beginning construction on the wall, later that month.

The nation’s attorneys alleged that the construction would mean “true, unbridled trespass” on the federally recognized Native American tribe’s sovereignty.

“Construction of the border wall and associated infrastructure will require the blasting and grading of mountain peaks that lie in the wall’s path, and the building of miles of access roads and multiple staging yards (complete with concrete batching plants) that will stretch far inland from the border, all of which will be done in trespass and have a permanent, scarring impact on reservation lands,” the motion said.

Leon, in an 18-page order dated Thursday and made public the next day, wrote the O’odham were unable to prove the wall would diminish the nation’s boundaries without congressional approval and would cause permanent harm to the nation’s landscape.

“I fully expect the government in the months ahead to follow through on its guarantees of consultation and cooperation with the nation to address the nation’s concerns regarding border wall construction!” Leon wrote in his decision.

Leon also wrote that “the government’s interests in securing the border, enforcing immigration laws and ensuring public safety outweigh any surviving irreparable harms at this juncture.”

The tribe’s lawsuit was filed by Kanji & Katzen, a law firm that specializes in advocating for the interests of indigenous tribes and nations. It directly names DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott and Rosario Vasquez, chief of the latter agency.

The southern border of the Tohono O’odham territory is the second-longest international border of any Native American reservation in the United States and the lengthiest on the Mexican border.

The Tohono O’odham Nation has campaigned against the placement of a border wall on tribal lands during both terms of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Tribal leaders warned in February that the Trump administration planned to erect barriers through the reservation as part of its larger plan to install a “double layer” wall, roads, lighting and other infrastructure.

Jose said in February the O’odham worked with the federal government for decades on border security measures, even allowing the U.S. to raise vehicle barriers and Border Patrol operating bases on the reservation.

The O’odham have spent millions of their own dollars on border security efforts, Jose continued. He also expressed concerns that CBP already laid out plans without the nation’s permission to build through the reservation in what’s called the “Tucson 4 Project,” on the agency’s online Smart Wall map.

The federal government confirmed his fears in May, and approved plans for the “Tucson 5 Project,” which officials say is slated to start in October.

‘Monstrosity of a wall’

Samuel Fayuant, a cultural specialist for the Tohono O’odham Nation, said Friday he does not trust the federal government to respect the O’odham nation’s wishes.

“They say ‘consultation,’ but that doesn’t mean it’s going to keep it from happening,” he said. “They still might choose to do so. There’s no guarantee.”

Fayuant said he ultimately hopes the judge rules in the nation’s favor and puts a permanent stop to border wall construction.

But even if that happens, he said, some damage has already been done.

Fayuant in April told the Tucson Sentinel several sacred sites were in the path of the planned construction, including the Las Playas Intaglio in the Cabeza Prieta Wildlife Refuge and Quitobaquito Spring, about 50 miles east.

Within a month of Fayuant’s initial interview, federal officials notified chairman Jose that the Las Playas Intaglio was bulldozed.

“I saw they were cutting through the mountain. The devastation has already occurred in that area,” Fayuant said, recounting his last visit to the sacred site. “They’ve disrespected all biological, all cultural laws to build this monstrosity of a wall — that’s what I call it.”

The International Indian Treaty Council, which has offices in Tucson, San Francisco and Guatemala, also voiced their support of the Tohono O’odham’s efforts to prevent the wall from being built. She called the U.S. government’s efforts to build the wall without the consent of the Tohono O’odham an infringement on the nation’s sovereignty.

“These are indigenous territories recognized by the federal government, and they can’t be brushed aside,” said the organization’s executive director, Andrea Carmen. “They are taking a principle stand, a nonviolent, peaceful stand, based on their inherent rights.”

Carmen noted the federal government’s plans to build the border wall without the O’odham’s consent violated several standards listed in the United Nations’ Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted in 2007.

And, she added, the conflict between the nation and the U.S. government had caught the attention of indigenous people as far away as Argentina and New Zealand, some of whom had also expressed their support of the Tohono O’odham to her.

The argued that the issue was also important to U.S. citizens, as it also shows how religious freedom and protection laws for endangered species can be threatened.

‘Destroy our land and separate our people’

Tribal members in mid-July spent days at the San Miguel Gate, one of three border crossings on the Tohono O’odham Nation, for a ceremonial fire and gathering.

The nation, nearly a week before Leon denied its motion, also posted “no trespassing” signs throughout the reservation aimed at contractors who would try to enter its lands. Anyone who saw someone who they believed to be a contractor was instructed to to confront them, but contact the Tohono O’odham Police Department instead.

Tribal official announced those restrictions were intended to prevent non-tribal members who “are attempting to destroy our land and separate our people with the construction of the wall.

U.S Customs and Border Protection started laying groundwork for more than 222 miles of “barrier systems” through Arizona in December, stating it planned to build primary and secondary walls through Yuma, Pima and Cochise Counties.

The agency’s plans at the border also entail installing fiber-optic cable, stadium-style lighting, surveillance cameras and access and patrol roads.

The $51.6 billion project is funded through the 2025 “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed into law on the 4th of July that year.

The work is done by contractors with Fisher Sand & Gravel, a company connected to Trump that has made the family that owns it billionaires.

Despite the opposition of the tribe, federal officials have repeatedly said “We’re not taking our foot off the gas. More progress to come.”

Contractors in July demolished three ancient cottonwood trees near Lochiel, Ariz, just east of Nogales, to clear a way for the wall’s construction. The loss of the trees prompted a group of protestors to start a weeks-long “tree sit,” ongoing as of Friday, intent on keeping the final tree standing.

Also in July, the National Forest Service closed all access roads to Quitobaquito Spring, considered sacred to the Tohono O’odham’s federally-unrecognized sister tribe, the Hia C-eḍ O’odham. The oasis is also home to three endangered species.