The following is part of  an interview conducted with Ofelia Rivas, a traditional  O’odham woman who is organizing to resist the building of the border wall across the  O’odham territory.  The traditional territory of the O’odham is comprised of land on both the U.S and Mexican side of the border, and if the wall is completed it will severely limit the traditional passage between O’odham villages on opposite sides of the border, resulting in a disruption of familial and ceremonial continuity.  Ofelia’s words will tell the rest of the story. (You can find the entire interview here)
 
 Q:  What are the stated reasons given by the government for wanting to build the border “wall” through the O’odham territory? 
 
A:  National security – a risk to national security due to open borders.  
 
Q:  In what ways are the tribal government and police working with the Department of Homeland Security/Border Patrol to plan for the building of the wall? 
  
A:  The Tohono O’odham Nation has allowed the Federal government to control the northern territory and allows human rights violations to occur. It refuses to oppose the harassment, home invasions, tailgating at high speeds and deaths of the O’odham caused by the United States Border patrol and other agencies (FBI, special drug agents, US customs, special rescue forces on the reservation, etc.).   The Tohono O’odham Nation publicly supports the presence of the Border patrol and have made requests for aid and have received “surplus equipment’ including weapons and an increase of agents in the territory.  

At the initial proposal of sealing the border, the Department of Homeland Security and the tribal government used fear tactics as they campaigned for the support of the “wall” throughout the reservation. They claimed that the security of the O’odham was in jeopardy. One local political leader went as far as telling a community directly adjacent to the border that Al-Qa'ida was going to bomb their community if they didn’t close off the border.  The community politicians agreed to the building of the “wall”, even though it closes off the ancestral routes crossing the border. A particular route that 
will be sealed is one the O’odham use to attend one of the most sacred surviving ceremonies held in Mexico. At the urging of the elders, the traditional leaders and ceremony leaders requested a meeting with the Tribal Administrators to discuss the impacts on the culture that would be made by the “wall” and to discuss the unsafe border crossing conditions for ceremony participants, as well as other issues such as protection of sacred sites and ceremony grounds. The traditional leaders were ignored and to this day the sacred sites are unprotected and the ceremony routes that cross the border are 
unsafe.  However, the O’odham still travel this route through areas controlled by the border patrol and the Mexican Territorial Army.  Today, the numbers of armed Border Patrol and non-O’odham Tribal Police are increasing.  The people have been misinformed and their concerns disregarded. All complaints about the border patrol were twisted and used by the tribal government to request federal and state funding. Most of the testimonials/complaints were taken down in the O’odham language.  The Tohono O’odham Nation claims to be a sovereign nation, but it is not a true sovereign nation, as it does not manage it own affairs, especially dealing with the International Boundary.  A sovereign nation would create an environmental protection force to safeguard the nations land and manage its lands by creating its own passport based on aboriginal rights.  This would provide for safe border crossing for the O’odham.  A sovereign nation would protect its people. 
 
Q:  What interest does the tribal government have in working with the Government to help build this wall?  Why is there a specific focus on the O’odham lands by the Government? 
 
A:  The increased drug trafficking and human trafficking started funneling through the O’odham territory when the United States decided to re-channel the traffic flow of immigrants through O’odham territory with operations such as “Operation Gatekeeper”i  The increased border patrol forces in Texas, New Mexico and California forced the traffic to flow through O’odham territory. The government felt the plan would deter traffickers due to the extreme conditions of the area such as excessive heat during the summer and extreme cold during the winter nights as well rough desert terrain that has no accessible water. However, the tribe was not equipped to handle this onslaught of people coming through O’odham lands. The tribal government then accepted federal assistance 
not only to increase their police force, but also to increase agents on the reservation to “assist” their efforts to monitor the border.  Prior to the 9-11 “attack on America,” Washington D.C. politicians toured the border along the reservation and declared that they were not responsible for the existing 
cattle fence, stating that the Unites States government marked the border only with markers. (The tribe was seeking federal assistance to repair the cattle fence along the border due to cattle rustling and increase of drug trafficking). But now, after 9-11, the reservation is under the department of homeland security control, a police state, just like apartheid in South Africa. O’odham now have to carry documents to prove they are O’odham in order to move around on their own lands. The reservation is now closed off to the media and anyone voicing resistance against this situation face serious consequences such as harassment, arrest and a loss of public services from the tribal programs. 

One example of this harassment is my personal case. The non-O’odham tribal  police in my mother’s village along the international border arrested me. I was held in a police vehicle for an hour under interrogation by a policeman, while two border patrol  vehicles blocked the entrance to my mother’s yard. I was told to cooperate or face five  charges: failure to stop, failure to show I.D., interfering with the Border patrol and two counts of aggressive behavior toward an officer. I was un-handcuffed and told to get out of the vehicle countless times as different tribal police arrived. When one non-O’odham 
tribal police officer arrived he was told there was a little misunderstanding and it was resolved. This causes me to seriously question the governments’ motives, they are trying to outright pacify the O’odham.  They violate every protected human right we have and ignore our specific indigenous aboriginal rights. They control O’odham lands through psychological warfare.  

One major “problem” that has not been discussed, is the unknown number of young O’odham incarcerated in federal and state prisons who have become victims of this “operation gatekeeper.” The O’odham reservation has 97 percent unemployment – young people have been forced into drug trafficking and human trafficking to buy their “American dream.” Many of these young people are given severe sentences and do not receive legal assistance from the tribal system. Many of these young people have never been arrested or committed any offenses but now sit in prison awaiting sentences. The young people returning from prison are forced into halfway houses and are not allowed to return home to their families, they completely lose all rights as citizens of the United States. This is a conspiracy to force the total assimilation of the O’odham and neutralize the O’odham lands. This psychological warfare on the O’odham is genocide, a genocide that many will not realize until generations to come. 
  
Q: According to the Department of Homeland Security, “illegal immigrants” are  using the O’odham reservation lands to cross into the United States.  How many of these people are immigrants from Southern Mexico and how many are native O’odham who are just trying to travel within their traditional lands? 
 
A:  Statistically, the documentation of O’odham that are abused and deported is unknown. When family members do not come home, families wait, as there is no system set up to find information from the department of homeland security. When the build-up of border patrol along the border increased, the fear in the O’odham increased. O’odham fear retaliation from not just the federal government but the local tribal police and tribal politicians.  O’odham that have made statements [against the department of homeland security] receive reprisals in such things as no social services from the reservation programs and harassment from the federal agents and tribal police. Today, the O’odham will not talk about abuse from the Border Patrol agents or the tribal police. Personally I 
have talked to a number of O’odham that have been harassed by the border patrol and by the tribal police. One O’odham woman told me that in the middle of the night a group of troops knocked at her door, masked, wearing all black clothing and heavily armed, woke her children (ages ranging from 20 to 8) and interrogated them. When she reported this to the tribal police she received no action.  Some period later the tribal police admitted to have conducted this type of operation as she was suspected to traffic drugs. This woman does not traffic drugs but does support the traditional people. 

As for the border patrol abuse, O’odham have no rights.  An elderly couple while under interrogation was forced to show a shopping/groceries list to prove that their travel on the road was justified. The border patrol can drive their vehicle into your yard and hold you at gunpoint and can confiscate your tribal identification card and make a request for further proof of “American citizenship.”  

 The majority of “illegal immigrants” are indigenous people from Mexico and Central America.  Today many O’odham have not been crossing the border through ancestral routes – except for the “traditional O’odham” that continue to travel back and forth to their families and to conduct ceremonies. 
 
Q:  Given that the proposed fence will make travel between O’odham villages on opposite sides of the border much harder – In what ways will this wall further degrade and destroy traditional O’odham culture?   
 
A:  The traditional O’odham culture mandated by the Creator, and taught by our Elder Brother I’itoi in our teachings, designated areas of most importance to the O’odham. These are areas of significant importance and the overall sacredness of the entire original lands of the O’odham. All these areas have a significant part of the Him’dag – the way of life of the O’odham. Some place might be designated for the men or for the women;  some places might hold special clays for birthing ceremonies or death ceremonies. Some place might have special rites of passage for medicine people. Some place is where ceremonies are held. All these places have songs and grow special herbs and medicines  that the O’odham use.  

The significant demise of the O’odham culture begun at the coming of the foreign religions but the greatest impact was the loss of mobility upon the land. The O’odham face restrictions to continue vital pilgrimages to holy sites. We are required to carry document to travel on our lands. The dissecting of O’odham lands also caused segregation and discrimination against the O’odham. Some O’odham didn’t see a problem in government handouts such as government food rations, government commodities, then finally government social aid. 

The traditional O’odham saw this as dependence and laziness, but more importantly it infringed upon the O’odham beliefs of taking care of the lands and living in harmony. The O’odham today no longer gather many desert foods to maintain the balance in the environment. The food gathering involved singing special songs and conducting ceremonial dances and acknowledging our way of life, which is the balance of our lands. The United States government and the establishment of the reservation do 
protect some of these areas, but the lands exposed to extensive degradation are the lands in Mexico. Towns and agricultural farms now occupy many of the sacred sites. An example is the town of Sonoita in Sonora, Mexico that once was the village of Shon Oidag. The Mexican settlers bulldozed the burial sites of the O’odham and build their homes on top of this area. The living decedents were powerless to defend this area, as after all they are just indios, a slang insult in Mexico. Congress recently approved a bill that in 2008 all people entering the US will be required to have a passport. Many traditional O’odham do not have birth records that are required to obtain a passport. The sealing of the international boundary is the demise of the remaining O’odham way of life......legal cultural genocide.