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Arizona
Related: About this forumA border tribe, and the wall that will divide it
Many fear the border wall would result in all tribal ties with Mexico being cut off.The Tohono Oodham Nation the tribe is the second-largest in the U.S., by land holdings sits on an estimated 2.7 million acres in southern Arizonas Sonoran Desert. Ancestral lands stretch across the border into the Mexican state of Sonora.
About 2,000 of the tribes 34,000 members live in Sonora, according to tribal officials. They were cut off from the rest of the nation by the 62-mile international boundary and have found themselves increasingly isolated from their people in Arizona.
The Tohono Oodham people consider the San Miguel Gate a traditional passage of their ancestors.
Today, it connects family members who live on both sides of the border. It is used by tribal members who travel for sacred pilgrimages and ceremonies in Mexico, as well as those living in Mexico who travel to the U.S. for tribal services, to sell or buy goods, or to visit the hospital in Sells, the capital of the Tohono Oodham Nation.
At the San Miguel Gate, Rivas can legally cross the border into the U.S. Most Americans and Mexicans cannot. A tribal ID serves as a passport of sorts for members to travel back and forth.
About 2,000 of the tribes 34,000 members live in Sonora, according to tribal officials. They were cut off from the rest of the nation by the 62-mile international boundary and have found themselves increasingly isolated from their people in Arizona.
The Tohono Oodham people consider the San Miguel Gate a traditional passage of their ancestors.
Today, it connects family members who live on both sides of the border. It is used by tribal members who travel for sacred pilgrimages and ceremonies in Mexico, as well as those living in Mexico who travel to the U.S. for tribal services, to sell or buy goods, or to visit the hospital in Sells, the capital of the Tohono Oodham Nation.
At the San Miguel Gate, Rivas can legally cross the border into the U.S. Most Americans and Mexicans cannot. A tribal ID serves as a passport of sorts for members to travel back and forth.
https://www.usatoday.com/border-wall/story/tohono-oodham-nation-arizona-tribe/582487001/
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A border tribe, and the wall that will divide it (Original Post)
DesertRat
May 2018
OP
Mosby
(16,310 posts)1. Not real sympathetic
The tribe bought land in glendale so they could declare it res land and build another casino the valley doesnt need.
So much for sacred land.
Kali
(55,008 posts)2. Big difference between those two things and the people involved.
Like the difference between what trump (or any big muckety muck - political or corporate) does in the world and what you or I do in our daily lives. We aren't responsible personally for his bullshit. We are just trying to live our lives. The people on the border (and in Mexico) are trying to maintain family and religious tradition. The casino folks are about working the system they have been handed and making money. Can't even really blame them for that, but it is still a different universe than what is happening on the border.
Ptah
(33,028 posts)3. I'm disappointed to learn that The Tohono O'odham Nation does not have your support.
The Tohono Oodham Nation is divided by an arbitrary line.