US-Mexico border wall cutting through Native American tribal lands

[Judi Lynn]

Adria French
6 hours ago

Construction of Trump’s border wall between the United States and Mexico cuts through and is threatening to destroy sites historically and culturally important to the Tohno O’odham people living in the area. The border wall is being constructed through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Tohono O’Odham lands in southwestern Arizona. Tribal nations have been living in and around these border areas for thousands of years.

The springs in southwestern Arizona are sacred to the Tohono O’odham and Hia-Ced O’odham, who lived in the area as recently as three generations ago, and are one of very few natural sources of water along the immense, rugged Arizona-Sonora borderlands. Without water, endangered species at Organ Pipe, such as Quitobaquito pupfish and Sonoyta mud turtles, will be destroyed. Both the pupfish and the turtle are found only at Quitobaquito Springs, a desert wetland adjacent to the planned route of Trump’s wall.

To facilitate the administration’s actions, the National Park Service (NPS) issued a “Temporary Closure Order” in the vicinity of Quitobaquito Springs on Monday, September 28, as a “response to considerable public safety concerns associated with border infrastructure construction activities,” according to an NPS press release. There was no mention of the duration of the closure order.



Border wall construction at Quitobaquito Springs. Credit: Lucas Mullikin on Twitter

Under the guise of this order, the NPS is actively denying access to this area by tribal members, journalists and the public.

More:
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/10/07/park-o07.html

[sprinkleeninow]

1. Sickening... eom

[dhill926]

2. well...hopefuly the wall will fall down...

within a few months of construction.