The Tohono O’odham Nation is asking a federal court to halt construction of border wall segments across 62 miles of its Arizona reservation, arguing that the project would cause irreparable cultural and environmental harm.
The motion for a preliminary injunction was filed on June 17 in Washington, one day after the tribe brought a lawsuit challenging the project and seeking to stop construction while the case moves forward.
The 20-page complaint names Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Rodney Scott, and Border Patrol Chief Rosario Vasquez as defendants.
The case arrives amid renewed federal border construction efforts tied to shifting policy under the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump revived efforts to complete the southern border barrier on July 4, 2025, when he signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law.
The legislation set aside $46.6 billion for border infrastructure, including wall expansion, surveillance systems, and additional funding for Border Patrol operations.
As part of that initiative, the Department of Homeland Security and CBP have awarded $4.5 billion in contracts for what officials describe as a “smart wall” system designed to enhance monitoring and detection along the border.
A CBP spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the agency’s priority is to implement Trump’s executive order 14165, “Securing Our Borders,” and proclamation 10142, “Declaring a National Emergency at the Southern Border of the United States.”
CBP continues to coordinate with the National Park Service, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and other federal and state agencies throughout the planning of border barrier and technology deployments “in order to achieve Border Patrol’s operational priorities,” the spokesman said.
“We are building border infrastructure faster and smarter than ever before to ensure there are no gaps and no easy pathways for illegal entry,” he said.
The spokesman noted that CBP cannot comment on pending litigation.
Following the Biden administration’s suspension of border wall construction, work on the barrier has resumed in several regions.
Federal projects are now advancing in California, while Texas recently completed an 82-mile state-led border wall.
CBP estimates that roughly 250 miles of additional barriers will be completed by June 2027, out of about 700 miles of primary fencing along the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.–Mexico border.
In its filing, the tribe argued that the project would inflict lasting damage on its land, culture, and religious practices.
“While the Nation values its close relationship with the department, it has long opposed construction of a border wall on the reservation,” according to the lawsuit.
“The Nation understands that construction of the wall would entail significant devastation on the reservation, including the destruction of mountain peaks sacred to the O’odham.”
The complaint states that the wall would sever long-standing cultural and family connections between O’odham communities on both sides of the border.
It further alleges that the project would “interfere significantly” with ceremonial practices and harm plant and animal species considered sacred.
The filing also points to recent construction-related damage near tribal lands as evidence of the continuing risk.
“Events as recent as two months ago in which department contractors destroyed ancestral sites of great importance while constructing the wall in areas adjacent to the reservation have only confirmed to the Nation the wisdom of not sanctioning construction of the wall across it,” the suit states.
In May, construction crews allegedly damaged Native American cultural artifacts within Arizona’s Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, according to the Center for Western Priorities.
Among the damage was a 1,000-year-old intaglio and sacred etching linked to the Tohono O’odham community.
The tribe further argues that the Department of Homeland Security lacks authority to unilaterally alter reservation boundaries and is bound by a long-standing statute requiring congressional approval for such actions.
It notes that the federal government established the Tohono O’odham’s aboriginal lands in 1854.
“The harms resulting to the Nation and its members if the secretary is allowed to proceed with his plans will be serious and irreparable, and they cannot be justified by appeals to border security or other considerations,” the lawsuit states.
The Tohono O’odham Nation, with roughly 34,000 members, spans 2.8 million acres in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, with about 62 miles running along the U.S.–Mexico border.
