A federal judge in Arizona cleared the path for border wall construction in the state after a Native American tribe attempted to block its construction.
The Tohono O’odham Nation had argued that constructing the border wall along its southern border with Mexico would constitute illegal trespassing on tribal lands as well as effectively shrink the reservation.
Judge Richard Leon noted in his ruling a federal proclamation in 1907 that the first 60 feet of the reservation could be taken for federal use.
“Given the national security and foreign policy considerations related to the border wall, deference to the government is warranted,” he said.
Members of the Tohono O’odham Nation had erected “no trespassing” signs in reaction to federal workers visiting the border sites to scope out construction.
The reservation’s shared border with Mexico extends roughly 62 miles.
“ANY construction related activities to the illegal and destructive border wall be warned, informed of trespass and escorted off the Nation’s land by law enforcement,” the tribe wrote on its Facebook page on Aug. 8.
Judge Leon pointed to a proclamation by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907 stating that all public land within 60 feet of an international boundary is under the exclusive control of the federal government. --->READ MORE HERE
A federal judge refused a bid by the Tohono O'odham Nation to immediately block construction of 62 miles of new border wall along the reservation's southern boundary with Mexico.
In the new ruling made public Friday, Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C., rejected arguments that:
- A new border wall and the construction around it would amount to illegal trespassing on tribal lands;
- It would effectively shrink the reservation without congressional approval;
- All of the land right down to the border belongs to the tribe despite a 1907 proclamation that reserves the first 60 feet for federal use.
And Leon, in an 18-page opinion, said there's another reason he finds the tribe doesn't have a legal right to stop the double-layered 30-foot-steel-and-concrete barrier now being planned. He said the needs of the United States to secure the border trump the tribe's concerns.
"Given the national security and foreign policy considerations related to the border wall, deference to the government is warranted,'' he wrote.
The ruling comes just weeks after the tribe erected "no trespassing'' signs through much of the 2.8 million-acre reservation. But tribal Chairman Verlon Jose said the signs are not related to the contractors being sent to the reservation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to start scoping out the project.
The plan to put up the signs "has been in the works for some time,'' he told Capitol Media Services on Friday. "We have a lot of people who come on the nation who are technically trespassing, not only contractors. We have a lot of people come on that do illegal hunting, that want to go driving all over the nation to areas that are not public spaces.'' --->READ MORE HERE
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