For a Border Tribe, Trump’s Wall Is a Betrayal: ‘They Want to Erase Us’
The New Your Times – September 17, 2026
An escalating confrontation on Native land southwest of Tucson threatens to upend decades of uneasy cooperation between the Tohono O’odham Nation and the United States.
Opinion: Indigenous rights clash with fed’s border wall
Michael A. Chihak Special to the Arizona Daily Star – September 13, 2026
Accomplished reporter Michael Chihak writes in to the Arizona Daily Star to discuss how the federal government’s ongoing push for the double border wall through the Nation’s land is an attempt at modern day colonization.
Tohono O’odham stand firm: ‘We don’t need a wall to keep us safe’
Arizona Republic – September 11, 2026
AZ Republic goes over the reality of border crossing through the Nation- that we have achieved a 95% reduction in unsanctioned crossings. The article outlines how the wall is strictly a political stunt that would destroy our ecosystem and cultural resources and divide families physically.
CBP relationship with Tohono O’odham Nation frays as border wall project moves ahead
Tucson Sentinel – September 9, 2026
Tucson Sentinel interviewed Chairman Jose on the most recent border wall updates, highlighting CBP’s undermining of established working relationships and the cultural devastation the wall would cause, including needless dynamiting of important sites
UNESCO reiterates fears of border wall damage to World Heritage site El Pinacate
KJZZ Radio – September 7, 2026
UNESCO, the cultural arm of the United Nations, calls on Mexico to organize a mission to assess the severe damage the useless border wall would cause to World Heritage site El Pinacate and other critical animal habitats along the Arizona-Sonora border after Trump administration announces US withdrawal from UNESCO.
‘I don’t know where this stops’: Trump’s border wall decimates indigenous land
MS Now – September 6, 2026
For the Tohono O’odham Nation, the indigenous inhabitants of southwestern Arizona, the giant saguaro cacti are considered people. Contractors building Trump’s border wall are uprooting them, destroying many other sacred sites and crucial biodiversity along the way.
Saguaros marked for removal on Tohono O’odham Nation as tribe fights wall
Arizona Daily Star – September 5, 2026
Unauthorized border contractors trespassed on sovereign land to tag centuries old saguaros and large ocotillo for destruction to make way for Trump’s illegal border wall. When the overwhelming majority of drugs entering the country are smuggled through ports of entry and the wall is proven over and over to be ineffective and devastating to the environment, it is clear the push for this harmful wall is more about politics than protection.
Tribal Leader Along U.S.-Mexico Border Shares Message with Americans
KPFA Radio – September 4, 2026
Chairman Jose spoke with KPFA Radio about the destructive impacts of the border wall and why it does not provide real security.
Border Wall Resistance: Sovereignty, Sacred Lands, and the Fight in Southern Arizona
KPFA – September 3, 2026
The destructive border wall must be fought from all sides. KPFA covers the Nation’s efforts to protect its people, land and culture from this devastation.
US Border Tensions: Tribal Community Faces Off With Armed Agents
CNN – August 29, 2026
Chairman Jose was interviewed by CNN about the status of border wall construction and the impacts to the Tohono O’odham Nation.
Trump administration is building a border wall in Arizona. A tribal nation says they’re trespassing
National Public Radio – August 28, 2026
National Public Radio interviews Chairman Jose about where things stand with the border wall and why construction of a wall would harm the Nation.
Trump administration starts building border wall project in Arizona over tribe’s objections
Associated Press – August 27, 2026
The Trump administration has begun work on a project to build a stretch of border wall in southern Arizona along part of the Tohono O’odham Nation’s reservation, pushing ahead despite protests from the tribe.
The Arizona Tribe That’s Been Dragged Back Into Trump’s Border Wars
The New Republic – August 10, 2026
On April 28, Chairman Verlon Jose of the Tohono O’odham Nation received a message from a representative of the Department of Homeland Security. A contractor working on behalf of DHS to construct an additional border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border had destroyed part of a site sacred to the Tohono O’odham—Las Playas Intaglio, an archeological site featuring art engraved in the earth in the shape of a fish (comparable to the Nazca Lines in Peru).
Nation Presents Strong Court Case Against Border Wall
Tohono O’odham Nation – August 3, 2026
Tohono O’odham Nation – July 21, 2026
07/14/2026 Pima Board of Supervisors Border Wall Resolution
Tohono O’odham Nation – July 14, 2026
Pima County backs Tohono O’odham Nation in border wall fight
KVOA News – July 14, 2026
The Tohono O’odham Nation is suing the Department of Homeland Security for plans to extend the border wall through their Nation.
Cronkite News – July 8, 2026
The Wall the Tohono O’odham Don’t Want
The Atlantic – June 20, 2026
Tohono O’odham sue DHS over border wall that would divide tribal land along 62-mile frontier with Mexico
Arizona Republic – June 17, 2026, 12:59 p.m. MT
After learning that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security intends to award contracts to build a border wall through Tohono O’odham Nation tribal lands, the tribe filed a lawsuit challenging the project.
Tohono O’odham Nation sues feds over border wall on tribal lands
Arizona Republic – June 17, 2026, 12:59 p.m. MT
After learning that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security intends to award contracts to build a border wall through Tohono O’odham Nation tribal lands, the tribe filed a lawsuit challenging the project.
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.”