Border wall crews damage 1,000-year-old site as tribe warns of risks
Arizona Daily Star – May 2, 2026, Updated May 15, 2026
“Tohono O’odham tribal leaders continue to voice opposition to the construction of a physical border wall that would cut through their lands and potentially destroy cultural resources, a warning that came as crews damaged a 1,000-year-old site in the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge.”
Tribes meet for prayer in shrinking gap soon to be closed by Trump’s border wall
Arizona Daily Star – Sep 27, 2020, Updated Apr 11, 2026
“Oʼodham people from both sides of the border met Sunday morning to exchange blessings through an opening in the international boundary that won’t be open much longer. As federal officers watched from their vehicles about a quarter of a mile away, the two groups talked and prayed on the spot where the new border barrier is set to be built near the desert oasis of Quitobaquito Springs.”
Tribal Nation Condemns ‘Desecration’ to Build Border Wall
New York Times – Published Feb. 26, 2020, Updated March 2, 2020
Construction of a wall on the Arizona border is endangering sacred Indigenous sites — including an oasis that has supported human beings for the last 16,000 years.
Blasting in Construction of Border Wall Is Affecting Tribal Areas
New York Times – Published Feb. 11, 2020, Updated Feb. 15, 2020
“Blasting operations for construction of President Trump’s border wall in Arizona have begun to disrupt a UNESCO ecological preserve that encompasses Native American ancestral lands and burial grounds.”
Park Service Says Archaeological Sites Are Imperiled by Border Wall
New York Times – Sept. 17, 2019
“The construction of President Trump’s wall along the southwestern border will significantly damage or completely destroy more than 20 archaeological sites in a natural park in the heart of Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, according to a study conducted by the National Park Service.”
At U.S.-Mexico border, a tribal nation fights wall that would divide them
NPR – Jan 13, 2019 5:13 PM EDT
“The Native American tribe Tohono O’odham in Arizona has a significant stake in the ongoing conflict in Congress about whether to fund President Trump’s $5.7 billion border wall. The tribe’s reservation, about the size of Connecticut, spans both countries, and a border wall would run through their land. NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Christopher Livesay reports.”
Border Wall Would Cleave Tribe, and Its Connection to Ancestral Land
New York Times – Feb. 20, 2017
“Mr. Trump’s plan to build a 1,954-mile wall from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico will have to overcome the fury of political opponents and numerous financial, logistical and physical obstacles, like towering mountain ranges. Then there are the 62 miles belonging to the Tohono O’odham, a tribe that has survived the cleaving of its land for more than 150 years and views the president’s wall as a final indignity.”
BEYOND THE WALL: BORDER FENCE CUTS TOHONO O’ODHAM NATION IN HALF (Lee)
Arizona Daily Star – Jul 14, 2016, Updated Jan 30, 2018
“Steel barriers line most of the 75 miles of the Tohono O’odham Nation’s southern boundary. But a wall? “Over my dead body,” says Verlon Jose, the nation’s vice chairman.”
A border tribe, and the wall that will divide it
AZ Republic | USA TODAY NETWORK – Sep 19, 2017
“The earthy smell of mesquite fills the air on a Saturday in late March. The sun hangs high and the clouds low over a desolate stretch of the border that divides Arizona from Mexico, that divides the Tohono O’odham Nation in two.”
Tohono O’odham Nation Tribal Leaders Say Wall With Mexico Will Not Be Built On Their Land
KJZZ – Published November 14, 2016 at 7:15 AM MST
“Tribal leadership of Tohono O’odham Nation in southern Arizona said they won’t support a border wall project on their land. Part of their reservation extends into Mexico and covers 75 miles of the international border. “
Living in No-Man’s Land
Cultural Survival – May 26, 2010
“Until the 1854 Gadsden Purchase, the Tohono O’odham’s land stretched undivided across the Sonoran Desert. Now, a 70-mile border divides the community in two, with 1,400 of the 27,000 members of the tribe living on the Mexican side of the border and the other members living on the United States side of the border.”
Border Fence Must Skirt Objections From Arizona Tribe
New York Times – Sept. 20, 2006
“The Senate is expected to vote Wednesday on legislation to build a double-layered 700-mile-long fence on the Mexican border, a proposal already approved by the House. If the fence is built, however, it could have a long gap — about 75 miles — at one of the border’s most vulnerable points because of opposition from the Indian tribe here.”
