Southern Arizona communities resist border wall expansion at sacred water source

QUITOBAQUITO SPRINGS, Ariz. — The Tohono O’odham Nation says about 20 armed and masked Customs and Border Protection agents entered the reservation to escort federal government contractors to begin border wall construction this week.

It’s the latest development in the ongoing legal fight between the tribal nation and federal government over the wall.

Tribal police had been turning away contractors before the armed escort.

Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Verlon Jose says the wall being built on the edge of the reservation in ignores tribal sovereignty, though federal courts have disagreed for now.

“My message to the Trump administration is stop this wall from being built. It is not necessary,” Jose said.

There’s also a nearby legal battle by the Center for Biological Diversity to stop ongoing construction at Quitobaquito Springs, which sits on federal land in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument but remains a sacred site for the Tohono O’odham Nation.

A sacred water source in jeopardy

“Our people have been here since time immemorial,” Chairman Jose said, looking over Quitobaquito Springs.

The springs sit just yards from the existing southern border wall near the Lukeville port of entry. Plans to build a second wall roughly 100 feet north of the existing one could destroy the site.

For the Tohono O’odham community, the second wall threatens a place their ancestors used for trade and rest and that remains culturally important today. The springs are also home to species found nowhere else in the United States: the Quitobaquito spring snail, Quitobaquito pupfish, Sonoyta mud turtle and desert caper plant.

The spring snail is central to the Center for Biological Diversity’s legal fight to stop the construction. Its case aims to finalize the snail’s classification as an endangered species.

Chairman Jose told reporters and U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva during a visit to Quitobaquito Springs this week that he views the construction as a desecration.

“I would never go into your church and destroy it. I would never go into your home and destroy it. I would never go into your cemeteries and blow them up. That is exactly what has happened to the O’odham and that’s exactly what is going to happen to us again,” Jose said.

Residents of nearby Ajo are also trying to protect the springs.

“A lot of people that grew up here talk about their families going to Quitobaquito for picnics,” Protect Quitobaquito organizer Maria Singleton said. “They would go down to recreate and enjoy it. It’s the only water source.”

Singleton joined more than 50 Arizonans at a town hall in Ajo hosted by Rep. Grijalva, where the congresswoman heard repeated requests from locals to find a way to protect the springs.

In response, Grijalva sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of the Interior urging a suspension of border wall construction until the tribal community is consulted.

Construction near Quitobaquito, however, is ongoing.

“There is sort of a feeling of hopelessness, but we need to keep speaking up anyway,” Singleton said.

It is unclear exactly how the construction could affect Quitobaquito, but Ajo locals and tribal community members say other important sites, including Las Playas Intaglio and Monument Hill, have been destroyed during past building.

Tohono O’odham fight for sovereignty over border wall

While Quitobaquito Springs may be a focal point of the fight against the border wall in Arizona, a separate legal battle is playing out on the nearby Tohono O’odham Nation.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been seeking to fill a gap in the wall along the 62 miles that the tribal nation shares with the southern border.

This week, the Tohono O’odham Nation announced armed CBP agents entered the reservation to escort government contractors to begin construction on the wall.

Chairman Jose argues this will effectively reduce the tribal nation’s own boundaries and violates tribal law.

Gov. Katie Hobbs told KTAR News 92.3 FM Outspoken with Bruce & Gaydos Thursday that the federal government is ignoring the tribe’s objections.

“They are literally bulldozing over tribal sovereignty right now,” Hobbs said. “They’ve already disrupted cultural sites.”

Hobbs said her office had tried to help the tribe open a dialogue with the incoming Homeland Security secretary before construction began, but the effort went nowhere.

“This is not about whether there should be a border wall or not, or whether the nation supports a secure border. They do,” Hobbs said. “If it’s going to go forward, they have to work with the tribe. They have to address their concerns and they can’t just bulldoze over sacred sites.

But Jose said the issue goes beyond consultation. He argues the construction would shrink the nation’s territory, something only Congress has the power to do.

“That would diminish the boundary of the nation. They have no authority there, the only entity that does is Congress,” the chairman said. “Congress can reduce the size of tribal nations, not the president, not the Department of Homeland Security.”

Earlier this month a federal judge denied the Nation’s bid to block construction, finding a 60-foot “Roosevelt Reservation” along the border is federal land, which the Nation disputes.

Jose does not want to see any form of a wall along the Tohono O’odham Nation.

“Why did we build the first wall? Why are we building a second? Obviously the first wall didn’t work, which we tried to tell you already,” Jose argued.

The tribal nation believes there are other ways to protect the border using technology and partnerships.

“And that’s all that we’ve ever asked for: To protect our land, protect our people, protect our sacred sites,” Jose said.

The Tohono O’odham Nation is exploring legal options as it continues to resist border wall construction on and near the reservation.

In a statement this week, CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott defended the construction, saying the agency is closing a physical gap along the tribal nation’s border to protect the United States.

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