Tribe’s Land Cut Between US and Mexico Amid Border Crisis

The U.S.-Mexico in the Tucson Sector near Yuma, Ariz., on May 25, 2018. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

The Pascua Yaqui Tribe is caught between the U.S. and Mexican border, as their land stretches beyond the border wall in Arizona.

Raymond V. Buelna, a cultural leader for the tribe, has been separated from tribal members who are stuck living on the Mexican border side after being detained by border patrol agents.

It was February 2022, and Buelna, a U.S. citizen, was driving the pair—both from the sovereign Native American nation’s related tribal community in northwestern Mexico—from their home to the reservation southwest of Tucson. U.S. officials had authorized them to cross the border. But when Buelna asked an agent why they were detained, he was told to wait for the officer who brought him in.

“They know that we’re coming,” Buelna told The Associated Press. He has made the trip for various ceremonies for 20 years. “We did all this work and are still sitting there.”

Native Americans join others in a ceremony to mark the first Indigenous People's Day, in place of previously celebrated Columbus Day in Los Angeles, Calif., on Oct. 8, 2018. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Many tribal members use natural resources like rivers and streams for daily water. They cross the border for basic necessities and to attend burials and visit relatives.

Tribal officials have drafted regulations to formalize the border-crossing process, working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s recently formed Tribal Homeland Security Advisory Council, comprised of 15 Native officials across the United States.

If approved, the rules would become the first clearly established U.S. border crossing procedures specific to a Native American tribe that could then be used by others, according to Christina Leza, associate professor of anthropology at Colorado College.

The regulations would last five years, to be renewed and amended as needed, and require training local U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents on the tribe’s cultural heritage, language, and traditions. This would require close coordination with the tribes, which would ease tribal members’ border crossings.

“This is just something that will help everybody,” said Fred Urbina, attorney general for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. “It will make things more efficient,” he told AP.

When family members, deer dancers, or musicians living in Sonora, Mexico, make the trip to the United States for ceremonies, tribal recognition celebrations, or family events, they are typically issued an ID card from the tribe and a visitor visa or parole permit from the U.S. government.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs visited the Tohono O’odham Nation last month to support local tribes continuing their native traditions and customs, even along the border walls.

“We are proud to welcome Governor Hobbs to the ancestral lands of the Tohono O’odham Nation. It was refreshing to have the opportunity to sit down together for true government-to-government conversations. As her first hundred days in office come to a close, Governor Hobbs has made it clear she is serious about addressing the important issues facing Arizona and Indian Country,” Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Ned Norris, Jr. said in a statement.

Tribes have met challenges as many illegal immigrants have been crossing the border in droves, which has overwhelmed local, state, and federal officials. Hobbs acknowledged this challenge when Title 42 ended last week.

“While we are prepared to take state action in any way we can, we cannot manage this influx alone,” Hobbs said. “Without much more robust action from the federal government, the current situation will only get worse.”

Jacob Serapo, a Tohono O’odham rancher, believes a wall will not solve America’s immigration issues.

“A wall built on the border, we believe, is not the answer to securing America. Walls have been proven to not be 100 percent effective,” Serapo said in a video statement. “We believe in continued cooperation and working together with local law enforcement to secure and protect our shared native lands.”

Native Americans should be able to cross the border to preserve the ceremonial life of their communities, Leza told AP.

“If the federal government is saying our particular priorities, our interests in terms of securing our borders, trump your interests as a sovereign nation, then that’s not really a recognition of the sovereignty of those tribal nations,” she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.