Overview
- Tribal officials said contractors accompanied by roughly 20 masked, armed Customs and Border Protection agents entered reservation land at about 4 a.m. Tuesday to carry out soil sampling and other pre-construction work at three sites.
- Tohono O’odham leaders reported that a CBP tactical unit and vehicle blockade prevented the Tohono O’odham Police Department from issuing trespassing citations or removing contractors during the operation.
- The activity follows a U.S. district judge’s Aug. 14 decision denying the tribe’s request for a preliminary injunction to stop work, and the Nation has kept large no-trespassing signs and warned contractors they would be cited if they entered without permission.
- CBP has said it is moving forward with the federally funded Tucson 5 project to add barriers along the tribe’s 62-mile border and has contract authority for work in the area.
- Tohono O’odham leaders say the project will damage sacred sites, water sources such as Quitobaquito Springs, and habitat, and they are consulting lawyers as the dispute could prompt more legal filings, local protests, and further clashes over tribal sovereignty and daily life for cross-border O’odham communities.