Tohono O'odham Nation Closes Tribal Land to Non-Members. Border Wall Resistance Underway.

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, August 8, 2026

The Tohono O'odham Nation closed its tribal lands to non-members today, and placed "No Tespassing" signs at its borders, as it continues to fight border wall construction on its sovereign land. It was the 11th day for tree sitters and supporters in Lochiel, Arizona, east of Nogales, protecting an old growth cottonwood in the path of the death machines. In Big Bend National Park in Texas, the claws of the death machines today ripped out fragile plants struggling for life in this arid landscape.

The Trump administration is ignoring all federal laws that protect tribal lands, burial places, cultural sites, endangered and threatened species, and national parks.

The Tohono O'odham Nation said today, "Important community update! Tohono O’odham Nation leadership has been informed that federal contractors may attempt to enter the Nation’s lands this weekend to begin conducting work related to border wall construction.

"Please be aware that "no trespassing" signs have been posted in several locations on the Nation. Tohono O’odham law enforcement is on alert to turn back trespassers," the Tohono O'odham Nation said today.

"All O’odham are free to travel as usual. The restrictions are only for non-tribal members who are attempting to destroy our land and separate our people with the construction of the wall," the Tohono O'odham Nation said.

The life-crushing destruction of the fragile landscape of Big Bend Nation Park began yesterday in Texas. Man camps, which have brought drugs and sex trafficking throughout North America, with the workers on pipelines and workers with the fossil fuel industry, are planned in Texas.

"Bulldozers broke ground today on border barrier and road construction in Big Bend National Park amid widespread bipartisan opposition. Videos shared with the Center for Biological Diversity show contractors plowing through native vegetation along the Rio Grande’s riparian corridor, with the iconic Santa Elena Canyon visible in the background," the Center said on August 7.

“This is the most heinous attack on an American national park in generations,” said Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity.

In southeast Arizona, today is Day 11 for the tree sitter and supporters in Lochiel, east of Nogales, Arizona, protecting an old-growth cottonwood from the border wall contractors.

At Grandmother Camp, there has been no border wall construction since the tree sit began. The cottonwood trees are the nesting place of migratory birds, including the threatened Yellow-billed Cuckoo.

"We've lost three grandmothers that took 250 years to grow. They were obliterated by the monstrous machinations in four hours," Kate Scott, Madrean Archipelago Wildlife Center, said on from the tree sit in Lochiel, about 25 miles east of Nogales, and southeast of Tucson.

"But I just saw a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, federally threatened crying over this beautiful meadow."

"This remaining Grandmother, that threatened bird -- we remain hopeful that our efforts here on the ground will be met with thoughtful reasonable conversation and a new direction for Lochiel community," Scott said.

Back on the Tohono O'odham Nation, the tribe is fighting the border wall construction in court in Washington.

The Tohono O'odham Nation said attorneys argued a strong case in opposition to the construction of a border wall on O'odham land, pointing out that only Congress can deplete its land. The Nation's attorneys in Washington are seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent the border wall construction by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

"Only Congress has the authority to diminish the reservation, not DHS," the Tohono O'odham Nation said in a statement on Monday. "Even the law that authorized construction did not include any explicit approval from Congress to take the Nation's land."

Read more at Censored News:
Tohono O'odham Nation
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/08/no-border-wall-tohono-oodham-closes.html

Big Bend National Park, Texas
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/08/federal-contractors-begin-border.html

Tree Sitter, Lochiel, Arizona
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/08/tree-sitters-saving-old-growth.html

Top photo: The claws of death of border wall contractors rip out plants struggling for life in this fragile and aird landscape today in Big Bend National Park in Texas. Courtesy photo.