3 border wall protesters arrested by Cochise County deputies

Cochise County Sheriff’s deputies arrested three people on the U.S.-Mexico border road on Monday after they crossed the county line to protest the construction of a border wall through the remote grasslands of the San Rafael Valley in Southern Arizona.

They came from neighboring Santa Cruz County, where a “tree sit” has been underway for weeks to attempt to block the destruction of a grove of ancient cottonwoods towering right at the international border.

Cochise has an elected Republican sheriff who has supported the Trump administration’s spending on more border barriers, while Santa Cruz has a Democratic sheriff who has often questioned Trump’s moves.

The three were booked into the Cochise County Jail on Monday afternoon and were charged with disorderly conduct, said Carol Capas, a spokeswoman for the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office.

The arrests come as border wall protesters have faced increasing pressure from Border Patrol agents and private security to stay off the border road, which sits in the 60-foot federal easement known as the Roosevelt Reservation. Despite warnings of citations and arrests, protesters have held daily “sunrise ceremonies” in the easement, and repeatedly stood in front of construction vehicles, halting their efforts temporarily during the day.

Kate Scott, co-founder of the Madrean Archipelago Wildlife Center, told the Tucson Sentinel she was there with the trio, and they danced in the border road while wearing animal costumes as part of a long-running protest against the construction of 27 miles of double-layer wall, part of a $334 million contract under U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Scott said contractors surrounded the group after they drove to the border at the “man camp” established by the company to support border wall construction last year. The contractors, she said, refused to let the group leave, and repeatedly jeered them; and one man grabbed one of the protesters.

After about 45 minutes to an hour, a group of Cochise County sheriff’s deputies arrived. The deputies looked through videos on the contractors phones and began making arrests, but did not arrest her, Scott said.

Rally for the Valley posted video of the encounter showing the three protestors dressed as animals halting construction along the border wall, including one person bouncing on a concrete form dressed as a jaguar.

“Three land defenders were arrested after construction was halted for a 15-mile radius along the Arizona-Mexico border,” the group posted on Instagram. “Resistance to Trump’s double border wall is growing in the borderlands. We are fighting for life, self determination and freedom of movement for all living beings. If you share these convictions you’re invited to join the fight at Camp O:Shad in Lochiel, AZ.”

The incident occurred in Cochise County, about 11 miles east of Lochiel, Ariz., where a small group of protesters have held a “tree sit,” keeping border wall contractors from knocking down the last of four ancient cottonwood trees that have been estimated to be at least two centuries old.

On July 27, contractors uprooted and splintered three of four towering cottonwoods that stretched their limbs over the border line. They were moving to remove the last one, but were stopped by Scott. For the last 47 days, a group of activists have stayed with the tree, and within days they began a “tree sit” by lofting a plywood platform about 50 feet into its canopy.

Some volunteers spent days in the tree, though one activist spent a dozen nights among the tree’s expansive branches. In the intervening days, monsoons storms and hail have lashed at the group, while during the days, they have been visited by U.S. soldiers and security guards, including one guard with Vision Quest who said contractors were going to go around the tree — a claim largely treated with skepticism by most of those involved.

Federal officials have argued the Roosevelt Reservation easement, created in 1907 by President Theodore Roosevelt, allows them to build border barriers along the Arizona-Mexico border.

However, contractors have rapidly expanded far beyond the 60-foot easement, tearing through protected grasslands and deserts to build a so-called “Smart Wall” across the nation’s borders, including efforts in the San Rafael Valley, Cabeza Prieta Wildlife Refuge, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. The agency also launched efforts to build along the Tohono O’odham Nation’s 62-mile long border with Mexico, prompting a federal lawsuit.

On Aug. 28, nearly three dozen border patrol agents arrived at Lochielm including a supervisory agent who warned people they would be cited for “criminal trespass” if they were on the easement.

“Alright, so from today on anybody on the Roosevelt easement is gonna be charged with criminal trespassing. Right now, if I see anybody walking on the border road, they will be arrested,” said the agent, who hid his name behind a swatch of tape that read “S25.”

The agent told the group they would face charges under 8 USC 13, a portion of the federal code that allows federal officials to make state law “applicable to conduct occurring on lands reserved or acquired by the federal government,” according to the Justice Department.

However, federal agents have not issued citations or made arrests under state or federal law.

Capas said security personnel with the construction company told Monday’s protesters they were not allowed to remain in the area, but the group “refused to comply.”

The group continued into the restricted area, and “accessed construction materials intended for use in the border wall project.”

“Their actions created a safety and security concern for the protesters, construction personnel, private security personnel, and responding law enforcement officers,” said Capas.

“The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office respects the right of individuals to peacefully protest and express their views,” said Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels in a published statement. “That right, however, does not extend to trespassing, damaging property, interfering with lawful operations, or creating a safety hazard, and we take a zero-tolerance approach to these actions.”

“Our responsibility is to protect the public, protect property, and enforce the law fairly and consistently,” the Republican sheriff said. “When individuals cross that line and violate the law, they should expect law enforcement to take appropriate action.”

“No one is above the law. We will continue to respond to these incidents in a coordinated, professional, and deliberate manner. Our expectation is simple: individuals may exercise their lawful rights, but they must also comply with the law,” Dannels said.

His stance is markedly different from Santa Cruz County David Hathaway, a Democrat, who has refused to arrest protesters standing in the road. On July 27, a deputy arrested a protesters as contractors felled the three cottonwoods, but prosecutors abandoned the case, and since then, Santa Cruz County deputies have not come to remove people,

Capas added people participating in demonstrations should “remain in areas where they are legally permitted and to follow lawful directions from security personnel and law enforcement officers.”

She added Cochise County will “continue coordinating with federal authorities, construction personnel, and security partners regarding law enforcement and public safety concerns associated with activities in and around restricted construction areas.”

On Sept. 2, a helicopter associated with the Cochise County Sheriff flew over the protesters in Lochiel.

Dubbed “Hawkeye,” the Airbus helicopter is operated by Western Sky Aviation out of Scottsdale for Cochise County. Dannels introduced the helicopter to the public in October 2023, and said the aircraft was added to his department to “prevent and address criminal activity occurring in Cochise County.”