Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott announced his agency will move forward with a planned 62-mile border infrastructure project, known as the Tucson 5 project, in Arizona. After a federal judge earlier this month denied the Tohono O’odham Nation’s request to halt the project, the tribe now vows to cite contractors for trespassing on native lands.
The tribe has pinned its hopes on the lawsuit, filed against the Department of Homeland Security in June, alleging the project would diminish the boundaries of the Nation’s Reservation. Although the underlying lawsuit remains pending, a preliminary injunction to halt the project has been denied.
The Tohono O’odham tribe’s reservation consists of a 2.8-million-acre land mass along the U.S.-Mexico border in southern Arizona. The tribe has members on both sides of the border. According to the tribe, several thousand tribal members reside in seventeen communities in Mexico directly across the border from the reservation in the United States.
The tribe’s legal standing is hampered by the establishment of the Roosevelt Easement in 1907, which designates a 60-foot-wide strip of land as federal property. The easement set aside the strip of land to combat smuggling.
The easement runs along the border adjacent to the 62-mile international boundary between the Tohono O’odham reservation and Mexico. In early August, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon denied the tribe’s request to halt CBP’s plan to install a border wall along the 62-mile stretch within the easement, also known as the Roosevelt Reservation.
In his ruling denying the request for a preliminary injunction, Leon disputed the assertion that the project would alter the established boundaries of the Tohono O’odham Reservation and was “unlikely to succeed on the merits” of the request. The ruling, a major victory for the Trump administration, resulted in a renewed push by CBP to complete the project.
As the legal remedy to stall the project has failed, the tribe appears ready to resort to other means to impact the federal government’s efforts to build the wall. On Monday, Verlon Jose, Chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation, was joined by United States Representative Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) at Quitobaquito Springs for a media event in a continued push to halt the border wall project.
During the media event, Chairman Jose warned that contractors attempting to use tribal lands to access the Roosevelt Easement would be cited for trespassing unless they obtained permission from the tribe to enter the reservation lands. According to a report by the Tucson Sentinel, the tribe installed “no trespassing” signs throughout the reservation aimed at the contractors who have attempted to enter tribal lands.
At Monday’s press event, Tribal Chairman Jose emphasized his stern warning to the contractors, saying, “If contractors come without following the nation’s permitting processes, they are trespassing, and we will not stand for that.”
According to the Sentinel’s report on the event, Jose said police officers and rangers have escorted contractors off the reservation on seven occasions since the signs were installed earlier this month.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, another border wall project in Texas is facing opposition from politicians on both sides of the aisle. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) recently added his voice to those of local politicians and James Talarico, the Democratic nominee in the 2026 U.S. Senate election in Texas, in opposing border security enhancements in Big Bend National Park. In a letter addressed to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin dated August 7, Cornyn echoed constituents’ belief that dangerous terrain in the region acts as a “natural barrier that limits large-scale movements.”
CBP announced a pause on that project to address concerns from local citizens and law enforcement leaders in the region. The pause in construction-related activities remains in effect.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.
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