O'odham split on fences; foes appeal to U.N.

LUKE TURF

TOHONO O'ODHAM NATION - New demands for a border barrier are spreading through the state after years of smugglers easily ripping through flimsy border fences in some of the most remote areas of Arizona.

Nothing stronger than a cattle fence once stretched between Arizona's seven ports of entry from Mexico. But metal barriers - such as the one going up on 30 of the 36 miles of border in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument - are being erected or under consideration.

"We have seen a complete decrease in the number of vehicles that have come across that section," said monument Superintendent Kathy Billings.

Five federal entities and the Tohono O'odham Nation manage more than 200 of Arizona's approximately 350 miles of border. All six are seeking or considering barriers such as the one in Organ Pipe.

The barrier, a series of metal posts standing vertically about four feet apart with railroad rails connecting them horizontally, is designed to stop vehicles, not people or animals, Billings said.

A resolution recently passed by the Tohono O'odham Tribal Council seeks federal funding to build a similar barrier.

But some tribal elders are opposed to building a barrier.

Long before the border existed, the Tohono O'odham ventured across the desert to bring salt from the Gulf of California or visit friends and family in villages now on the other side of the border.

Tribe member Armando Cordoba, 76, still uses the ancient routes once or twice a week to get from his home in Casa Grande to visit family on the Mexican side of the reservation. Unlike others, Tohono O'odham members aren't restricted to crossing the border at ports of entry.

It's quicker and easier to get to the remote village where Cordoba's family lives by traveling the bumpy back roads than it is along U.S. highways, he said.

But tribal members aren't the only ones using the traditional routes.

Smugglers also drive into the United States along the back roads. A network of smuggling routes spiderweb off of the traditional routes.

Border Patrol agents stake out some of the crossing areas to ensure that those who cross along traditional routes are tribe members who need no documentation to enter the United States, said Border Patrol spokesman Andy Adame.

The barrier under consideration for the reservation would be similar to the one going up at Organ Pipe, Adame said.

Organ Pipe's barrier, which has about 11 of 30 proposed miles complete, will cost taxpayers about $17 million, Billings said.

Its design was conceived after National Park Service Ranger Kris Eggle was slain at Organ Pipe by smugglers in 2001.

Border Patrol and tribal officials are revisiting a 1992 environmental impact statement evaluating a vehicle barrier on the reservation.

The proposal is generating an outcry for United Nations intervention into what some see as an infringement upon tribal rights.

"I'm so numbed by our tribal government and what they continue to do to destroy our O'odham way of life, our O'odham people," said Ofelia Rivas, 47, an organizer of The O'odham Voice Against the Wall.

The coalition of tribal elders, community members and supporters are opposing what they see as a border militarization that infringes upon their culture.

"That border continues to separate who we are. Once you let them have a little bit of something then it turns into a whole monster," Rivas said.

O'odham Chairwoman Vivian Juan-Saunders said she has not heard of Rivas' group, and that she wishes they would have approached the tribe about their concerns.

"They refer to it as 'the wall,' and it's not a wall," Juan-Saunders said last night. "We have some common issues that they should have sat down with us to discuss. A lot of assumptions are being made."

Juan-Saunders said the two tribal districts on the border approved granting Border Patrol permission to seek federal funds to build what she describes as a "corral-type" fence with wooden posts.

"That's the preferred (design) because it blends in with what's out here on the Nation," she said.

Juan-Saunders said the barrier would have openings on the eastern edge of the reservation for tribal members to continue crossing. But the western edge community hopes to eventually barricade the entire district because the communities are living in fear of smugglers, she said.

No new port of entry is planned on the reservation, said Roger Maier, a Bureau of Customs and Border Protection spokesman.

In May, Rivas addressed the United Nations in opposition of border walls and barriers.

"They're going to fully militarize the international boundary which will greatly impact our native people," Rivas said. "We want the international community to understand and to hear us."

A storm rolled onto the reservation on a recent afternoon when some U.N. representatives were reportedly planning to meet with tribal elders who use the routes. The representatives didn't show up.

Liberato Bautista is an assistant general secretary of the United Methodist Church, which he said consults with the U.N. He vowed to bring the concerns of Rivas and others back to New York.

Adame didn't know how much of the tribe's approximate 74 miles of border would be barricaded - or at what cost - if the tribe gets federal funding.

Organ Pipe's barrier runs right up to the reservation. Organ Pipe's western neighbor, Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, has sought funding for a similar barrier in anticipation of illegal border traffic diverted by Organ Pipe's barrier.

Cabeza Prieta requested funds for a vehicle barrier along most of its 56 miles of border, but funding was denied, said Curt McCasland, a wildlife biologist in the refuge.

The budget request was denied because the funding is the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security, not the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the agency that oversees the refuge, McCasland said.

Asa Hutchinson, Homeland Security's undersecretary for border and transportation security, said he would do what he could to help fund barriers for the tribe and Cabeza Prieta.

"If there is a funding issue, I'd be happy to raise that at a higher level," Hutchinson said.

West of Cabeza Prieta, a barrier is being considered for some of about 30 miles of border on the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range, said 2nd Lt. Kevin Schultz, spokesman for the Marine Corps Air Station-Yuma.

To the east of the reservation at Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, officials also support a vehicle barrier for some of its seven miles of border, said Refuge Officer Drew Cyprian.

A barrier at Coronado National Memorial seems to be working to deter vehicle traffic, according to Chief Ranger Thane Weigand. Much of the memorial's 3 1/2 miles of border is inaccessible to vehicles.

"We're going to put barriers where it makes sense to put barriers," said the Border Patrol's interim Tucson Sector Chief Michael Nicley.

"But that's not the entire length of the border."

Terrain accessible to vehicles will be targeted, he said.

Some tribal elders in Mexico, such as Lilia Leon Romos, 71, say the barrier will make things more difficult for Tohono O'odham members in Mexico.

"It'll be more difficult to cross for family or the doctor," said Leon, 71.

She was born in Arizona and has documentation to cross the border at official ports of entry, but prefers using traditional routes, she said.