Border Wall Crews Cross Tribal Land Past No-Trespassing Signs To Stop Unauthorized Crossings

SELLS, ARIZ.—Federal agents escorted border-wall contractors onto Tohono O’odham Nation land without the Nation’s permission this week, using an unauthorized crossing to begin construction intended to prevent unauthorized crossings.

Tribal officials said about 20 masked and armed Customs and Border Protection officers accompanied drill trucks to three locations early Tuesday. The Nation had posted no-trespassing signs and instructed its police to remove unapproved contractors. According to its statement, federal vehicles formed a blockade that kept tribal officers away while soil sampling and other work proceeded. No physical confrontation was reported.

Customs and Border Protection says the project will close a desert corridor associated with drug loads, migrant deaths, and cartel activity. It is part of a $46 billion border effort involving 30-foot steel bollards, vehicle barriers, and surveillance technology. The Tohono O’odham reservation spans 62 miles of the international boundary, and the Nation’s membership includes thousands of people in Mexico.

A federal judge allowed work to continue because the planned wall sits within the Roosevelt Reservation, a 60-foot strip of federally controlled land along the border. The Nation argues that contractors still must cross its sovereign territory to reach that strip. It has also warned that construction would damage sacred mountain peaks and separate communities whose presence predates the international line.

The route is already producing measurable security results. Once the government finishes crossing land where it was told not to enter, the completed barrier will stand ready to discourage others from doing the same thing.