Tohono O'odham Tribal Members Voice Opposition To Border Wall At McCain's Office

Published: Thursday, March 23, 2017 - 9:29am

A group of Tohono O’odham tribal members will voice their opposition to President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall outside Senator John McCain’s Tucson office Thursday.

The Tohono O’odham Nation shares 75 of the 270 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.

The fear among some members is that a wall will prevent tribal members from moving back and forth across the border and disrupt wildlife migration patterns.

Gabriella Cazares-Kelly is a member of the group Indivisible Tohono, which organized the rally. She said another big issue is the militarization of border lands.

"So that means we’re having a lot more strangers on our lands and it opens us up to racial profiling, civil and human rights violations and that sort of thing," Cazares-Kelly said.

Indivisible Tohono also wants McCain to formally oppose the wall and to introduce legislation that will reverse federal waivers that would allow construction without the need for environmental studies.