Yes, another story from The New York Times. If you’re following the border fence debate – which is slated for discussion today in the U.S. Senate, check out this story about the challenge the Homeland Security Department will face building it through the Tohono O’odham Indian territory, along the Mexico-Arizona border.
Tribal members, however, fearing the symbolism of a solid wall and concern about the free range of deer, wild horses, coyotes, jackrabbits and other animals they regard as kin, said they would fight the kind of steel-plated fencing that Congress had in mind and that has slackened the crossing flow in previous hot spots like San Diego.
“Animals and our people need to cross freely,” said Verlon Jose, a member of the tribal council representing border villages. “In our tradition we are taught to be concerned about every living thing as if they were people. We don’t want that wall.”
The federal government, the trustee of all Indian lands, could build the fence here without tribal permission, but that option is not being pressed because officials said it might jeopardize the tribe’s cooperation on smuggling and other border crimes.
And if you’re feeling really ambitious in your immigration readings this afternoon, The (Baltimore, Md.) Sun wrote this weekend about the National Guardsmen stationed in the Tohono O’odham territory. That story is here.