The Trump administration has begun work on a stretch of border wall in southern Arizona along part of the Tohono O’odham Nation’s reservation, pushing ahead with one of its signature projects despite protests from the tribe.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection says the area is a dangerous smuggling route, but members of the Tohono O’odham Nation, whose membership spans both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, have accused the administration of trespassing and say the construction will damage land sacred to the tribe.
The Tohono O’odham Nation said in a statement Tuesday that about 20 CBP officers, working with contractors, went onto the tribe’s land early that morning to begin construction. Drone videos published by nation officials show roughly 14 vehicles and an industrial drill at one of the sites.
A History of Tension
The Tohono O’odham Nation, which has 37,000 members including thousands who live in Mexico, sued the federal government in June in an attempt to block construction of the border wall. The tribe argued that the wall would cause “significant devastation” on the reservation, including the destruction of mountain peaks sacred to the tribe, and would alter boundaries of their nation.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C., ruled in favor of the government earlier this month, noting that the border wall would be built on a 60-foot-wide buffer zone of federally owned land called the Roosevelt Reservation, established in 1907.
But the Tohono O’odham Nation said that even if construction were contained to the Roosevelt Reservation, driving onto tribal land to access the area still constitutes trespassing. Tribal officials said the contractors are violating tribal codes and that the nation had set up “No Trespassing” signs before Tuesday.
The Construction
The CBP agents were masked, armed, and set up a vehicle blockade to stop tribal police from removing the contractors, according to Tohono O’odham officials. So far, no physical confrontations between police or members of the Tohono O’odham Nation have been reported.
CBP defended the need for the wall, saying the desert spanning the Tohono O’odham Nation is a corridor for drug smuggling. “The project will close one of the most dangerous smuggling and trafficking corridors on the Southwest border: remote desert that has facilitated decades of drug loads, migrant deaths, and cartel activity,” said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott.
The wall segment is part of a $46 billion effort by the Trump administration to fill the border with 30-foot steel bollard walls, vehicle barriers, and technology.
The Cost
SLSCO Ltd., the Texas-based construction company building the section in Arizona, has secured over $390 million in funding from the Department of Homeland Security to build the border wall since 2023.
The Bottom Line
The Trump administration has started construction on a border wall project on the Tohono O’odham Nation’s reservation in Arizona, despite objections from the tribe. Tribal officials say the construction trespasses on their land and will damage sacred sites. A federal judge permitted the government to proceed, ruling the wall would be built on a federal buffer zone. Tribal leaders say they’re exploring further legal actions.
