Crews are set to start clearing on Monday, Oct. 12, removing saguaro cacti the tribe holds sacred, for a 30-foot wall replacing a 4- to 6-foot vehicle barrier, per the Tucson Sentinel and Arizona Daily Star. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon refused for a second time on Thursday, Oct. 8, to halt the work. He found it likely falls in a 60-foot federal border strip reserved in 1907, before the reservation existed; the tribe says the strip never reached its land.
Where it stands
- The tribe's appeal isn't fully briefed until Oct. 22.
- CBP calls the area "one of the most dangerous smuggling and trafficking corridors"; the tribe cites CBP's own count of apprehensions 94% below Biden-era levels.
- Trump's first term built 226 miles of wall in Arizona but none on the reservation, the state's longest unwalled stretch.