As Trump’s Wall Closes in, DHS Intimidates a Border Tribe With Surveillance, Masked Agents and Drones

At 4:59 a.m. on August 25, Verlon Jose, chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation in Southern Arizona, received a notification from the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector. Government contractors were expected to commence soil tests for a 62-mile wall along the Nation's southern border. Jose, already aware of the contractors' arrival, was informed that cultural monitors could observe the work but not interfere.

Moments earlier, a tribal member had reported a caravan heading south through the reservation, and social media was filled with similar reports. By the morning of August 27, the O’odham struggled to prevent the scene, taking their case to federal court. Their homeland borders the U.S., and thousands of tribal members reside in Mexico.

A wall would disrupt their ceremonies, family visits, and sacred landscapes, they argued. The court denied their request for a preliminary injunction. The Border Patrol chief assured the tribe of good-faith engagement; however, Jose learned the contractors were accompanied by masked agents and drones. The tribe's chief of police was stopped at a roadblock.

The DHS deployed a surveillance blimp and enlisted Mexican security forces to protect the work crews. For years, O’odham leaders had thwarted the wall by allowing DHS to test aggressive homeland security measures, but ProPublica found that DHS had overstepped, surveilling the tribe's ongoing prayer ceremony and questioning tribal members about their ceremonial activities.