By admin 
SELLS, AZ (AZFamily) — Tribal leaders say more than a dozen federal agents and border wall contractors entered the Tohono O’odham Nation illegally this week to start construction work, ignoring previous warnings.
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Tohono O’odham Nation leaders say on Tuesday around 4 a.m., border wall contractors and 20 masked, armed U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents entered tribal land to begin pre-construction work for a border fence. Earlier this month, Nation leaders warned contractors not to encroach on tribal land without permission.
Tensions have grown over the push to build a secondary border fence along Arizona’s southern border.
The contractors were on the Nation illegally and accompanied by agents as they worked on three separate locations near the border, according to the tribe. Tribal leaders said workers used drill trucks to conduct soil sampling and other construction work.
In addition to the CBP agents, multiple Bureau of Indian Affairs officers and a CBP SWAT team were deployed to tribal land to “protect” the contractors, the tribe said. Tribal leaders also claimed that CBP has set up a vehicle blockade to prevent Tohono O’odham police from removing contractors or issuing citations.
“We previously warned unauthorized individuals attempting to access our land that they would be in violation of this trespassing law,” the Nation said.
Nation leaders said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security also coordinated with Mexican police to deploy officers while border contractors are doing work.
The Tohono O’odham Nation spans 62 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border and is currently at the center of a federal lawsuit, with tribal leaders asking a judge to halt construction they say illegally takes tribal land.
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CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said that the agency is moving forward with the border wall construction, which he says will close “one of the most dangerous smuggling and trafficking corridors on the Southwest border.”
“Congress funded this work, a Federal court has affirmed it, and CBP is carrying it out under the legal authorities that apply,” Scott said in a statement Tuesday.
Despite the growing tensions, all interactions between tribal police and federal law enforcement have been “peaceful and professional,” according to the Nation.
Tohono O’odham leadership is consulting its legal team to determine next steps and remove unauthorized personnel from its land.
“We want to stress the importance of the safety and wellbeing of our tribal citizens. We encourage all Tohono O’odham on both sides of the border to remain vigilant and prioritize their personal safety. We support tribal members who choose to exercise their first amendment rights of free speech and the right to peacefully protest,” the Nation said in a statement Tuesday.
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