Judge lets Trump build border wall on Tohono O'odham land without consent

Washington,UPDATED: Aug 15, 2026 03:56 IST

A federal judge in Washington has refused to stop the Trump administration from moving ahead with plans to build 62 miles of border wall along a section of the Tohono O'odham Nation's reservation without the tribe's consent. US District Judge Richard Leon denied the tribe's request for a court order to halt construction, saying it had not shown that the wall would alter reservation boundaries without congressional approval.

Leon also rejected the tribe's claim that the planned wall would illegally trespass on its reservation. In his ruling, the judge wrote, "And in any event, I find that the Government's interests in securing the border, enforcing immigration laws, and ensuring public safety outweigh any surviving irreparable harms at this juncture."

The Tohono O'odham reservation, spread across 2.8 million acres in Arizona's Sonoran Desert, runs along 62 miles of the US-Mexico border. The tribe has more than 37,000 members, including thousands living in Mexico. A spokesperson for the tribe did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the decision.

Lawyers for the tribe had argued that building the wall would cause "significant devastation" on the reservation, including damage to mountain peaks that are sacred to the O'odham. They said, "It would fray the ties between O'odham communities and families on opposite sides of the border, interfere significantly with O'odham religious rituals and practices, and destroy plant and animal resources sacred to the O'odham."

The dispute also centred on the Roosevelt Reservation, a 60-foot strip of public land along the US-Mexico border set aside by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907 as a buffer zone. It was created a decade before the Tohono O'odham reservation was established. The tribe's lawyers said it was "fanciful at best" to suggest that border wall construction could be confined to a 60-foot-wide corridor.

At a hearing on July 22, Leon had appeared sceptical about the tribe's request for a preliminary injunction, describing it as an "extraordinary" step. The judge, who was nominated by former Republican President George W Bush, said he could not find an earlier court ruling under similar circumstances. "This is a novel case with novel issues," he said. With Friday's order, the administration has been allowed to continue taking steps towards the proposed wall along the tribe's border land.

With PTI Inputs

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