Indigenous leaders decry US border-wall work desecrating sacred sites

Border-wall construction along the U.S.-Mexico boundary has become a flashpoint for Indigenous communities, with leaders saying federal contractors working on new sections of the barrier have disturbed sacred places and cultural sites they consider integral to their traditions. In accounts described by the Associated Press, the concerns span multiple states and include sites that tribes say predate the boundary line itself.

The issue came into sharp focus at Kuuchamaa Mountain, also known as Tecate Peak, where Kumeyaay leaders described holding a ritual gathering near the mountain before construction activity began. AP reported that Kumeyaay tribal leader Norma Meza Calles, speaking at a Mexican wellness resort, said the mountain is sacred to the Kumeyaay and described it as a healer in the community’s creation story. She later said, as AP reported, that contractors were crushing rock as federal crews blasted and bulldozed the mountain to make way for wall sections.

Indigenous leaders tied the acceleration of the construction to a federal decision to move quickly. AP said the barrier building has ramped up even as illegal crossings have fallen to historic lows, with much of the work beginning after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security waived cultural and environmental laws. The report said the Kuuchamaa Mountain work involves activity that began in California and sends rock across to the Mexico side, where tribes say the site remains part of their sacred landscape.

AP reported that Emily Burgueno, a Kumeyaay Nation member from California, said the impact has personal and cultural meaning, saying “body” and “land” are the same word in the Kumeyaay language and that people “feel that in our DNA.” Burgueno told AP that “No one ever consented or supported the use of dynamite on the mountain,” and she said some tribal leaders met with DHS officials to urge protections and are looking into legal action. Kuuchamaa’s location—described as straddling the two countries—has also increased the stakes for tribes that say their sacred sites cannot be managed in pieces.

The Associated Press also reported similar concerns in Arizona, including an incident involving “Las Playas Intaglio,” described as a fish-shaped geoglyph created on a lava field. The report said the Tohono O’odham Nation told DHS contractors about the site and that the contractors later carved through the 1,000-year-old drawing last month. In an April 30 statement carried by AP, Tohono O’odham Chairman Verlon Jose called the loss “devastating and entirely avoidable,” saying it also mattered as “an irreplaceable piece of the United States’ history.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said, in a statement to AP, that a contractor “inadvertently disturbed” the site west of Ajo, Arizona, on April 23, and that it vowed to protect the remaining portion. AP reported that CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott was talking with tribal leaders about next steps. Separately, AP said the Inter-Tribal Association of Arizona—representing 21 tribes—traveled to Washington in April to lobby against wall plans on Tohono O’odham tribal lands and discussed additional concerns with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, whom the nation said listened while making clear his intent was to build more border walls quickly.

Beyond Kuuchamaa and Las Playas, AP described barrier projects that would touch other sites across the border region. The report said the Trump administration has said the barriers are needed to keep people and drugs from entering the U.S. illegally, and it wants wall coverage at least 1,400 miles long along the border. AP reported that Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” devoted over $46 billion to the effort, and it said CBP has awarded contracts or begun construction on over 600 miles of new wall, with companion surveillance technology, and that a double wall is planned or under construction along another 370 miles.

AP cited examples in Arizona and New Mexico, including blasting on Mount Cristo Rey, a pilgrimage site topped with a limestone crucifix in Sunland Park, New Mexico, where crews reportedly set off blasts this year. In western Texas, the report said federal authorities notified ranchers on the Rio Grande east of Big Bend National Park of interest in their land that contains canyonland pictographs and petroglyphs, and it described remarks from Raymond Skiles, a retired Big Bend National Park ranger. After community backlash, AP reported that CBP’s online planning map showed some 30-foot-wall plans were scrapped for surveillance technology, patrols and some vehicle barriers.

CBP has said it recognizes the importance of natural and cultural resources and is working to minimize construction impacts, AP reported, including leaving drainage gates open in wildlife corridors for animal passage. AP also reported that CBP said 535 miles of remote border terrain will rely solely on detection technology. Indigenous leaders who spoke to AP said many tribes would prefer approaches other than walls and described the work as a continuing pattern affecting their communities.

Tribes along the border “are all experiencing the same tragic desecration of our cultural and sacred sites,” Burgueno said in AP’s reporting, adding that it showed the federal government was not following federal laws. AP also said desecrating a sacred Native American site on U.S. federal or tribal land is a felony, and that in 1992 the National Park Service listed Kuuchamaa Mountain, also called Tecate Peak, on the National Register of Historic Places, noting that “discarding or disturbing the mountain’s natural state would be sacrilegious.” AP reported that Kuuchamaa draws both Indigenous and non-Native visitors and that Sarah Livia Brightwood Szekely described her father’s experience of the mountain’s “healing energy” when he arrived in Tecate, Mexico, as a Jewish refugee during World War II.

“There are all of these people that have a deep relationship with the mountain,” Szekely said, according to AP. AP reported that Meza Calles leads walks at the Rancho La Puerta wellness resort to teach guests about Kuuchamaa and described coming-of-age ceremonies that once occurred at its base. She told AP, “It’s sad they are ruining the mountain,” adding, “We’ll see how far they go. Destiny is destiny. But the fight is not over.”