Southern Az ‘tree sitter’ released after arrest following days in Mexican border cottonwood

A federal judge on Tuesday released a protester on her own recognizance after she spent days in the branches of a cottonwood tree before being arrested, temporarily halting construction of a double wall at the Arizona-Mexico border.

Fellow protesters say the “tree-sitter” first climbed into the tree, located just south of the United States-Mexico border in a small rancheria called La Noria, early on Oct. 6 and stayed there until Friday evening, when she climbed down and was taken into custody by border agents.

The tree-sitter was among dozens of protesters who set up camp on private property just across the line in the small hamlet of Lochiel, Ariz, calling the site Camp O:Shad.

The tree-climbing activist is charged with violating a temporary closure or restriction order, a federal misdemeanor. They were released by U.S. District Judge James Marner at the federal courthouse in Tucson.

“This is an oversimplification, but it’s basically trespass,” said Jamiel Allen, an attorney appointed to represent the protester.
Allen added that he was concerned that his client spent days in custody over such a low-level offense.

“There’s really no reason to hold them in jail for this long,” he said.

The group of protesters staged a tree sit from late July to Monday, hoping to save a grove of cottonwood trees in the path of border wall construction.

Contractors with Fisher Sand & Gravel, working at the behest of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, cut down three of four in a grove on the U.S. side of the border over the summer.

The final U.S. tree, which protesters dubbed “grandmother,” was ripped down on Oct. 5, the day Border Patrol agents first raided the camp. They say the defendant climbed into the La Noria tree on the Mexican side, also at risk by wall construction, early the next morning. The branches of that tree stretch across the border line into the U.S.

Confrontations between the agents and demonstrators lasted nearly a week.

Court documents, filed under case number CR 26-05494-01-TUC–MSA, identify the protester as Thomas L. Landes.

However, protesters lending their support at the Tuesday hearing say the tree-climbing demonstrator neither uses that name, nor the pronouns used to address her by court officials at the Tuesday court hearing.

They declined to give the name the protester generally uses of fear she could be doxxed, harassed or even physically attacked.
Court documents allege Landes climbed into the La Noria cottonwood’s branches on
Thursday before climbing back down on Friday evening.

According to court filings by the federal government, the demonstrator was also cited on Oct. 5, but released and ordered by Border Patrol agents not to return to the area.

Throughout the days of friction between activists and Border Patrol, at least a dozen people were detained and then released, with more cited, over the span of a week.

The Sonoran Desert Press Office — members of the camp who sent regular updates, photos and videos to reporters throughout the ongoing confrontations — accused Border Patrol agents of hurting and endangering the “tree sitter” by taking her water, food and a safety platform she was sitting on and dropping her to the ground, leaving her suspended for hours with nothing but a harness and safety tether for hours and not allowing anyone to bring her more supplies.

Protesters said agents of used pepper spray and shot pepper balls at them at the campsite while further abusing those in custody.
Those at the Tuesday hearing said they planned to watch the “tree-sitter” closely to ensure she had no visible injuries, worried their friend received similar treatment while in jail.

Bailiffs only allowed a few supporters and a Tucson Sentinel reporter into the courtroom Tuesday, saying there was limited space. However, several benches behind the protester and other defendants sitting in the front rows were empty.

One person carried flowers for the “tree-sitter.” Another held up her hands in a heart shape as the defendant walked to the front of the courtroom to speak with Marner.
Prosecutors said that the “tree-sitter” is unemployed and has no permanent address, instead opting for years to camp in different spots, and argued she poses a flight risk.

Allen responded that she had a close relative living in California, who she could stay with, plus friends in Southern Arizona.
Marner granted her release, ordering her to appear at all scheduled court hearings, stay in Arizona and California and maintain or seek employment or school enrollment.