TWO ARRESTED AS FEDS SHUT DOWN TRIBAL BORDER WALL PROTEST CAMP
Federal agents forced Kumeyaay Nation activists to leave their protest occupation camp near border wall construction on Monday, arresting two people and threatening to arrest dozens of others after issuing an emergency closure order.
The full-time occupation, named “Camp Landback,” began at the end of August after a San Diego federal judge denied the tribe’s request for a preliminary injunction to halt the border wall project near Campo.
The project calls for 14 miles of old landing-mat fencing to be replaced with 30-foot steel bollards, with a 6-mile extension of the existing footprint. Construction is halfway complete. Tribal leaders have called the work on the ancestral land intrusive and destructive to sacred remains and artifacts possibly buried there.
Activity at the camp — including the eviction effort, interactions with Border Patrol and construction crews, and faceoffs with a belligerent counter-protester who turned violent — has been documented on the activists’ Instagram page,
@kumeyaaydefenseagainstthewall.
“Kumeyaay community members and allies have peacefully held a prayer camp along the construction route of Trump’s Border Wall for several weeks,” the group said in a statement on Instagram. “Through ceremony, they have effectively prevented approximately a mile of Border Wall construction from destroying the land.”
A representative for the group could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
On Monday morning, two officials with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management notified the occupants of the emergency closure order that went into effect at 9 a.m., with instructions to “pack up and leave immediately,” according to a video of the interaction posted on the Instagram account.
The order cites public safety as the reason to evacuate the area, as crews prepared to blast a nearby canyon area for further construction. The order covers 580 acres, according to the group.
An activist who spoke with the officials reiterated their position: “It is a prayer camp, a ceremonial space. These folks are here under the 1978 Indian Religious Freedom Act. They have a right to practice ceremony here.”
Another video shows several Border Patrol vehicles arriving to enforce the order, including tactical agents.
One activist can be heard explaining to agents that the group was trying to comply but needed more than an hour’s notice. “Do you see how much stuff we have?” she asked.
Meanwhile in the background, a man sings a ceremonial prayer.
At one point, a Border Patrol agent says over a loudspeaker: “At 10:30 you will be subject to arrest. At 10:30. It is 10:20 a.m. currently.”
The arrests were made around noon, according to a statement from Border Patrol. The two men, whose names were not released, were taken into custody on accusations of failing to comply with the emergency order, authorities said. They were released about 3:30 p.m.
Further details about the
arrests were not available.
A photographer working for the Union-tribune was turned away from the area Monday afternoon by a Border Patrol agent who cited the closure order.
On Tuesday, the group questioned the timing of the eviction notice, given that the order was dated the Friday before: “We need answers as to why this notice wasn’t given sooner? Why were land defenders arrested while praying for the land at the wall?”
The Kumeyaay Heritage Preservation Council, which represents nine of the federally recognized Kumeyaay tribes, is not affiliated with the camp and had no details about its organizers or the arrests.
“Our group and the tribal leaders that we’ve met with are advocating only for peaceful prayer at the wall,” said Tom Holm, the council’s executive director.
Meanwhile, the tribe is continuing to seek a legal remedy to the construction.
The La Posta Band of Diegueno Mission Indians, the Kumeyaay band that filed the lawsuit, has asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider the request
for a preliminary injunction, which would temporarily stop the project during the course of litigation.
The court has agreed to expedite the appeal, with oral arguments expected sometime in December.
Attorneys for the Kumeyaay are accusing the government of improperly funding the project and ignoring a duty to formally consult with the tribe on the impact to the land.
Lawyers for the government countered that the consultation has been “extensive.”
In the end, U.S. District Judge Anthony Battaglia said it came down to a similar case, Trump v. Sierra Club, which is using a similar argument related to how the wall is being funded. While that case hasn’t been fully adjudicated, the U.S. Supreme Court did give an early ruling on the matter — one that Battaglia said he could not ignore and led him to deny the preliminary injunction here.