Indigenous sovereignty and Tohono O’odham efforts to impact U.S.-Mexico border security

Abstract

ABSTRACT As national demands for security came to override the concerns of border communities more decisively in recent decades, local input in areas such as land use, the environment, and civil rights has been concomitantly diminished. Under the George W. Bush Administration in the U.S. this trend culminated in congressional authorization for and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) execution of legal waivers to push through the construction of new border barriers. Ultimately, DHS voluntarily complied with many components of the waived laws. Still, by exercising Indigenous sovereignty, the Tohono O’odham Nation of southern Arizona pushed back against these waivers to require compliance with laws that had been dismissed. In the Trump era, additional and upgraded border barriers bypassed the Tohono O’odham Nation, but construction took place on nearby traditional territory, illustrating the enduring if tentative role of Indigenous sovereignty in this context. As a cross-border group, the Tohono O’odham are concerned about both the dramatic increase of external policing on their lands and the erosion of contact with tribal members in Mexico, which from an Indigenous perspective is increasingly difficult to traverse and manage.