Trump border wall construction kicks off in Arizona amid clash with Native American tribe

The Trump administration has started construction of a section of a border wall in Arizona despite objections from a Native American tribe.The wall is part of a $46 billion effort to shore up the southern border with 30-foot steel bollard walls, vehicle barriers, and technology designed to stop illegal immigration and smuggling.However, the Tohono O'odham Nation has said the construction will damage land sacred to the tribe, The Associated Press reported.MULLIN TELLS CONGRESS PRIMARY BORDER WALL WILL BE DONE BY JUNE 2027, SECONDARY WALL BY SUMMER 2028Contractors drill at a border wall pre-construction site in Arizona on Tuesday.The project is part of a Trump administration effort to shore up the southern border, which came amid opposition from the Tohono O'odham Nation, which said contractors are trespassing on tribal land.

(Tohono O'odham Nation via AP)U.S.Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said the desert spanning the Tohono O’odham Nation, which sits on both sides of the border, is a major corridor for drug smuggling."The project will close one of the most dangerous smuggling and trafficking corridors on the Southwest border: remote desert that has facilitated decades of drug loads, migrant deaths, and cartel activity," said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott.TRUMP TO SHRINK 2 UTAH NATIONAL MONUMENTS BY 90%The tribe, which has 37,000 members, including many who live in Mexico, sued the federal government in June in an attempt to halt the project.The lawsuit argued the construction would cause "significant devastation" on the reservation, including the destruction of mountain peaks sacred to the tribe.TRUMP SCORES MAJOR IMMIGRATION VICTORY AS JUDGE CLEARS WAY TO END TPS PROTECTIONS FOR THOUSANDS OF SOMALISContractors drill at a border wall pre-construction site in Arizona on Tuesday, Aug.

25, 2026.(Tohono O'odham Nation via AP)A federal judge rejected the argument, siding with the government and noting that the border wall would be built on a 60-foot-wide buffer ...