Coverage spread: 4 sources — 4 unrated
Lean ratings via AllSides / Media Bias-Fact-Check. How this works.
Where they agree
- About 20 masked, armed CBP agents accompanied contractors onto Tohono O’odham Nation land before dawn on a Tuesday to begin border wall pre-construction work.
- The tribe considers the entry trespassing and has long opposed wall construction as a threat to sacred sites, the desert environment and divided families.
- A federal judge rejected the tribe’s request to halt construction, and CBP defends the project as necessary to close a major smuggling corridor.
- Federal officials, including CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott, cite congressional funding and the court ruling as legal justification for proceeding.
Where they differ
- Cronkite News centers its story on the political irony of Cherokee Nation member Secretary Markwayne Mullin overseeing the incursion, quoting Native legal scholars and a Mullin acquaintance disappointed in him personally.
- ABC15 provides the most operational detail, naming BORTAC SWAT involvement, Mexican police coordination on the other side of the border, and direct quotes from Chairman Verlon Jose and members of Congress Grijalva and Gallego.
- FOX 10 Phoenix and 12 News, both drawing on Associated Press wire content, keep the focus narrowly on the tribe’s trespassing allegations and CBP’s smuggling-corridor justification without mentioning Mullin or congressional reaction.
- ABC15 is alone in detailing the tribe’s own limited enforcement response, noting police documented events but avoided issuing citations to prevent escalation.
Before dawn on a Tuesday in late August, roughly 20 masked and armed U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents escorted Department of Homeland Security contractors onto Tohono O’odham Nation land in southern Arizona to begin pre-construction work for a border wall project, despite the tribe’s objections and a standing “no trespassing” warning. The move angered tribal leaders, two Arizona members of Congress, and Native American advocates who say it tramples tribal sovereignty and threatens sacred sites — while federal officials defend it as necessary to close a dangerous smuggling corridor.
What exactly happened on the ground?
According to a statement from the Tohono O’odham Nation, CBP agents accompanied by Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement and a CBP BORTAC SWAT team entered tribal land around 4 a.m. to reach three sites near the U.S.-Mexico border. Contractors then used drill trucks to conduct soil sampling and other pre-construction activities. The Nation says Mexican police were separately deployed on the other side of the border in coordination with U.S. authorities. Tohono O’odham police were sent to the three sites to document what was happening and try to keep the peace, but the tribe says officers held back from issuing trespassing citations to avoid escalating the confrontation.
Why does the tribe object?
The Tohono O’odham Nation’s reservation stretches 62 miles along the border west of Nogales, with members and communities on both sides of the line. The tribe has fought wall construction there for years, arguing it will damage the desert environment, destroy sacred and archaeological sites, and split families and communities apart. In April, a DHS contractor already partly damaged a sacred site during earlier work. The Nation sued in June to block further construction and posted formal no-trespassing notices in early August, but a federal judge in Washington denied its request for a temporary halt on Aug. 14, letting the government proceed. Tribal officials say they are now weighing additional legal options.
How are tribal and federal officials responding?
Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Verlon M. Jose said the actions put “decades of successful partnership” on border security at risk, and called the deployment of BIA officers and the BORTAC team onto tribal land “deeply disturbing.” He argued the wall would harm the environment, sacred sites and families. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott defended the project, saying it will “close one of the most dangerous smuggling and trafficking corridors on the Southwest border,” pointing to Congressional funding and a federal court ruling that affirmed the work can continue. DHS officials, however, sidestepped questions about why armed, masked agents were used to hold back tribal authorities.
Why has this become a story about DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin specifically?
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, a former Oklahoma senator and member of the Cherokee Nation, is only the second Indigenous person ever to serve in a U.S. cabinet post. That background has made the incursion especially pointed for some Native critics. Angelique EagleWoman, director of the Native American Law and Sovereignty Institute at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, called it particularly disappointing given who leads DHS. Jason Nichols, a fellow Cherokee Nation member and former mayor of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, who ran against Mullin for a U.S. House seat in 2018, said the incident marked a “step backward” in federal-tribal relations and was surprising given Mullin’s stated understanding of tribal sovereignty. Nichols said he’d been fairly satisfied with Mullin’s handling of border policy until now, and is calling for DHS to pause and pursue “substantive consultation” with the tribe, which he says has proven a willing partner in the past — pointing to the Shadow Wolves, an all-Native ICE patrol unit based on the Nation that has long helped police the Sonoran desert border.
What are Arizona’s elected officials saying?
Arizona Rep. Adelita Grijalva and Sen. Ruben Gallego both condemned the operation. Grijalva said there was “no justification” for sending armed agents and contractors onto tribal land without the Nation’s consent, and pledged to pursue legal and legislative options alongside tribal leaders to stop further unauthorized activity. Gallego went further, calling the federal government’s consultation with the Tohono O’odham Nation a “sham,” saying DHS had previously been warned to genuinely consult tribes before building on their land but instead escalated by sending in dozens of armed agents with no advance notice. He argued border security and respect for tribal rights are not mutually exclusive.
What happens next?
Construction and pre-construction activity are continuing under the federal court’s Aug. 14 ruling, and the Tohono O’odham Nation says it is exploring further legal action to remove the contractors. No new court hearing date or DHS policy change has been reported. The dispute sits inside a broader, long-running fight over wall construction near Quitobaquito Springs and other sensitive desert sites in the region, and it remains unresolved whether the tribe’s sovereignty claims, sacred-site concerns, or congressional pressure from Grijalva and Gallego will alter the project’s course.
Sources
Featured photo: IloopMapping via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)