Culture and border enforcement collide on Tohono O’odham reservation
August 19, 2:20 PM
Arizona



NEWFIELD Along a stretch of dusty pavement in the middle of the Sonoran Desert, among giant saguaros and low-lying mesquite trees, sits a humble, pueblo-style Catholic church named St. Michael.

In the courtyard under a wind-beaten American flag, churchgoers lunch on chili, beans and tortillas and a salad garnished with indigenous cholla cactus buds. A concrete basketball court hosts musicians melding traditional Latin rhythms with native chicken scratch song akin to polka.

Emblems of U.S., Mexican and Native American life hold equal sway over the members of the Tohono O’odham Nation. All are carefree this bright September Sunday; children oblivious and adults content to momentarily forget that their 2.8 million acre reservation, 60 miles west of Tucson and nearly the size of Connecticut, is more than a cultural crossroads.

Five-hundred feet away stands the U.S.-Mexico border, which stretches across 75 miles of the reservation. These borderlands have become a battle zone as illegal immigrants and drug runners push forth into America and the U.S. government pushes back. Caught in the middle is the Tohono O’odham, a reluctant participant in a complex political struggle.

As Tristan Reader, director of nonprofit tribal organization Tohono O’odham Community Action, said, “It’s kind of like living on top of the Berlin Wall.â€