Judge rejects tribal trespass claim, cites government border-security interests
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled on Friday that the Tohono O’odham Nation has not established grounds to block the Trump administration from building 62 miles of international border wall along part of its reservation without the tribe’s consent.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon denied the tribe’s request for a preliminary court order halting the construction project. In his order, Leon found that the nation had not demonstrated that a border wall would change its reservation boundaries without congressional authorization.
The judge also rejected the tribe’s separate claim that the planned wall would amount to an illegal trespass on its 2.8-million-acre reservation. The court’s order disposed of both claims at the preliminary-injunction stage.
Even while acknowledging potential harms to the tribe, Leon concluded that the government’s interests in border security, immigration enforcement, and public safety outweighed any remaining irreparable injuries at the current stage of the case.
“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,” Leon wrote.
The decision is a procedural setback for the Tohono O’odham Nation, which had sought to prevent construction from advancing on its reservation while the underlying legal challenge proceeds. The Friday ruling allows the administration to move forward with the 62-mile stretch of border wall that would cross tribal land.
The case is being heard in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.