Overview
- U.S. District Judge Richard Leon denied a preliminary injunction Friday, finding the tribe had not shown the wall would alter reservation boundaries or amount to an unlawful trespass.
- The ruling lets the Trump administration proceed with preparatory work for about 62 miles of wall along the Tohono O’odham reservation while litigation continues.
- Leon wrote that the government’s interests in securing the border, enforcing immigration laws, and ensuring public safety outweigh the tribe’s claimed irreparable harms at this stage.
- The tribe says construction would destroy sacred mountain sites, disrupt cross-border family and religious life, and harm plants and wildlife on the 2.8 million acre reservation that includes more than 37,000 members.
- Tribal leaders have posted no-trespassing notices, alerted the Tohono O’odham Police Department, supported direct actions such as tree-sitters, and are weighing appeals and other responses as on-the-ground resistance continues.