A tribal leader is threatening protests if the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) begins construction of President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall.
During a meeting of Native American tribal leaders, the Tohono O’odham Nation’s Vice Chairman Verlon Jose threatened protests similar to those known as ‘Standing Rock,’ where environmentalists protested the Dakota Access Pipeline, if Trump’s wall is built, according to AZ Central:
Before the day was over and the guests left the remote desert mission on tribal lands, Jose would bash Trump’s proposed wall, calling it a waste of taxpayer dollars and comparing it to the Berlin Wall. He would call on people to see the barrier as an international human-rights issue, offer an alternative plan for tightening border security, and acknowledge that innocent tribal members are subjected to increased vehicle searches by Border Patrol agents.
He also warned of a mass protest on the border if diplomacy fails to keep the U.S. government off Tohono O’odham land, a protest that he said would rival Standing Rock.
Jose is threatening the protests because his tribe sits on more than 2 million acres across a southern Arizona desert that crosses through Mexico, across the U.S.-Mexico Border.
Besides gathering to threaten a protest against the construction of the border wall, the meeting of tribal leaders also included a chant demanding a “sanctuary for all.”
“They chanted a message printed on T-shirts for the trek: No Deportations, No Ban, No Wall, Sanctuary for All,” the AZ Central noted.
Despite hang-ups between the Trump Administration and Congress, DHS Secretary John Kelly said the construction of the border wall would “move forward,” Breitbart Texas reported.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
This article has been updated to reflect block-quoted text formatting that was not immediately visible at the time of publication.
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