Border Patrol SWAT team blocks Arizona tribal police from trespassing border wall contractors

About 20 armed, masked Border Patrol agents, including the BORTAC tactical unit, blockaded Tohono O'odham police from citing or removing border-wall contractors on the reservation in Southern Arizona, days after a federal judge declined to block preliminary construction work. Tribal leaders say contractors arrived at 4 a.m. to conduct soil sampling at three sites, prompting the federal blockade plus a surveillance balloon and Bureau of Indian Affairs officers.

The tribe had installed no-trespassing signs and warned contractors they would be cited, backed by Judge Richard Leon's ruling that nonetheless expressed hope the government would honor 'guarantees of consolation and cooperation.' Tribal chairman Verlon Jose said the wall will inevitably damage sacred sites, citing past destruction at Las Playas and Monument Hill and ongoing harm to Quitobaquito Springs.

CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott's statement calls the $47 million project necessary to close a 'dangerous smuggling and trafficking corridor,' without addressing why a tactical unit was needed to stop tribal police from enforcing tribal law on tribal land.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.