US News
Tohono O'odham Nation accuses federal agents of trespassing for border wall construction
Tribal leaders reported that armed Customs and Border Protection agents blocked local police from citing construction workers on reservation land in Arizona.
The short version
- The Tohono O'odham Nation accused roughly 20 armed Customs and Border Protection agents of trespassing on its Arizona reservation to facilitate border wall construction.
- Tribal authorities stated that federal agents deployed a blockade and a SWAT team to prevent tribal police from issuing trespassing citations to contractors.
- The standoff follows an August 14 federal court ruling that declined to halt border wall construction on the tribe's land.
Key facts
- The Tohono O'odham Nation stated that approximately 20 armed CBP agents and construction workers entered three reservation locations before dawn.[Al Jazeera]
- CBP agents used a vehicle blockade and deployed a SWAT team to block tribal police from serving trespassing citations to contractors.[Al Jazeera]
- On August 14, US District Judge Richard Leon refused to grant a preliminary injunction seeking to stop construction of the barrier on reservation territory.[Al Jazeera]
- The federal government contends that a 1907 presidential proclamation set aside an 18-meter strip along the border as federal land.[Al Jazeera]
- In June, the Tohono O'odham legislature voted unanimously to sue the administration over the border wall project.[Al Jazeera]
What remains uncertain
- The precise legal boundary rights between the federal government's 1907 land proclamation and Tohono O'odham sovereignty remain actively disputed in ongoing federal court litigation.[Al Jazeera]