politics
Tohono O’odham Nation Sues Federal Agencies Over Planned Border Wall on Reservation Land
The Tohono O’odham Nation filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block construction of a border wall across 62 miles of its reservation. The tribe argues the land remains sovereign and that federal action would violate prior executive orders and statutes.
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The Tohono O’odham Nation filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Border Patrol to halt construction of a border wall on reservation land.
The suit seeks an injunction stopping work on a 62-mile stretch along the southern boundary of the reservation, which covers an area the size of Connecticut. The tribe contends the land is private and sovereign rather than public, and that the federal government lacks authority to proceed without congressional action.
A 1927 federal statute states that changes to reservation boundaries created by executive order require an act of Congress. A 2025 presidential memorandum on border security also directed agencies to exclude federal Indian lands from certain jurisdiction transfers.
Cranes began installing steel panels in the San Rafael Valley last fall, with work later moving west toward the reservation. The Department of Homeland Security told tribal chairman Verlon Jose it planned to award construction contracts by the end of June 2026, and contractors began site visits.
Jose met with local and federal officials, but the tribe’s objections were not accepted. The nation concluded that litigation was its only remaining option. The complaint asserts that the wall would interfere with traditional spiritual, kinship, and economic practices and that the tribe’s aboriginal rights have never been extinguished by Congress.
