Beginning in the summer of 2019, man camps descended on traditional Hia Ced O’odham Territory (known as Organ Pipe National Monument), to build a wall across the U.S.-Mexico border. The spiritual and cultural devastation felt by O’odham peoples goes beyond words. The border wall is a physical representation of the cyclical and historical trauma O’odham land and peoples have faced through colonization, warfare and occupation.

On September 9, 2020, two O’odham women, including Amber Lee Ortega, were arrested for blocking border wall construction taking place next to the O’odham sacred site of A’al Vappia, Quitobaquito Springs. They were arrested and incarcerated in the private for-profit Corecivic detention center where they were held in chains and forced to undergo invasive search procedures. Concerns for health and well-being were met with hostile responses and pretrial release conditions included an intense monitoring process, which triggered deep emotional and spiritual distress.

Seeking to heal through ceremony and prayer on their traditional lands, they were required to submit requests to a judge to pray across “international” lines. All their requests were denied and both women faced penalties for practicing their culture and connecting with relatives on the other side of the border, a clear violation of their human rights.

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Article 36 states:  “Indigenous peoples, in particular those divided by international borders, have the right to maintain and develop contacts, relations and cooperation, including activities for spiritual, cultural, political, economic and social purposes, with their own members as well as other peoples across borders.” Furthermore, Article 36 says that “States, in consultation and cooperation with indigenous peoples, shall take effective measures to facilitate the exercise and ensure the implementation of this right.”

The denial of the cultural requests made by O’odham protectors, illustrates the ongoing misuse and invisible abuse of institutional power that too often impacts Indigenous peoples including their bodies, homes, ancestral lands, and ceremonial practices. The federal government knowingly desecrated a spiritually significant place as part of its border wall construction and has not been held accountable, but still it pursues unnecessary charges against those protecting ancestral lands.

On November 4, 2021, Hia Ced O’odham Land and Water Protector, Amber Lee Ortega, appeared in court for federal charges for defending O’odham sacred site, A’al Vappia. After Judge Leslie Bowman ruled that the RFRA defense would only be considered for mitigation, not verdict, she reconsidered after Amber switched legal counsel. Attorney Amy Knight, who represented Scott Warren with a successful RFRA defense, will present arguments on January 19, 2022 at the Tucson Federal Courthouse.

Amber is among so many O’odham who endure mistreatment by the Department of Homeland Security on a daily basis.

This is a call to not only stop the ongoing persecution of Amber Ortega, but all Land Defenders and Water Protectors standing in defense of Mother Earth, the Water and all sacred life. This is in support of O’odham peoples calling for the liberation of O’odham Jeved (land) and all Indigenous lands desecrated by violent colonial borders and occupation.

Since the Gadsen purchase of 1854, O’odham have been divided by an international border between the colonial nations of the United States and Mexico. In the immediate aftermath, the federal government established policies to create a massive land grab of traditional O’odham territory, effectively displacing those communities. O’odham have seen ancestral land occupied for mining, made into inaccessible federal parks, or turned into bombing ranges. By the 1990’s this occupation entered into a new era of violence as militarization and border infrastructure were pushed upon the O’odham in response to racist Free Trade policies which pushed migrants through the desert. With the creation of the US Department of Homeland Security after 9/11, the presence of border enforcement increased dramatically on O’odham land.

The Real ID Act of 2005 gave the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security the power to waive federal, state, and local laws in order to build the border wall. Some of these waived laws include important protections such as the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Procedures that were enacted to protect the land, animals, water, cultural artifacts, and burial grounds were disregarded. In complete disrespect for O’odham beliefs and culture, the Trump Administration used this Act to plow border construction through culturally and environmentally sensitive areas.

O’odham peoples endure harassment by Border Patrol on a daily basis through a violent culture of border militarization, enforcement and surveillance. This takes the form of being required to pass through multiple checkpoints, roving patrol stops, agents monitoring and trespassing community homes and daily life activities on traditional lands, as well as disrespect towards the land and all life on it. This disrespect has caused irreparable harm to the deep connections O’odham have to the land, family connections across man-made borders, history preservation, and himdag (way of life).

The stand of two O’odham women at A’al Vappia over a year ago now, was not only to protect the Sacred, but O’odham himdag for future generations.

The undersigned, in solidarity with O’odham peoples, call for:

1. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, Gary Restaino, must drop the charges against Amber Lee Ortega immediately;

2. Land back and recognition of unceded O’odham lands;

3. Immediate removal of the border wall on O’odham lands;

4. Government agencies must take accountability for the destruction caused by border militarization of water and life impacting an already delicate desert ecosystem;

5. Government agencies must create clear steps to restore plantlife and care for all life affected by border wall and surveillance construction;

6. The immediate demilitarization of O'odham lands;

7. The immediate removal of the Integrated Fixed Towers (IFT’s) and the discontinuation of the Biden Administration's planned “virtual border”;

8. The immediate removal of the Customs and Border Patrol agencies on O'odham lands;

9. Respect for fundamental human rights and Indigenous rights under United States federal law and international human rights norms.

• Follow along at - facebook.com/AntiBorderCollective Instagram: @oodhamantiborder

• Support Amber - Venmo: @Amber-Ortega-25

• Letters of support can be sent directly to protectamberortega@gmail.com