The 700-mile border fence that's being bandied about in Congress looks like a reasonable solution to illegal immigration problems if you happen to not live anywhere near the border.
However, for the desert-dwelling Tohono O'odham Indians, who have lived in the region for centuries before any border existed, the fence poses unique problems that Congress should not ignore.
Before there was a Mexico or a United States, the O'odham and their ancestors lived in the area that is now divided by an invisible political boundary.
As O'odham tribal Chairwoman Vivian Juan-Saunders points out, what that means is that when the borderlands became part of two separate countries, Indians who were part of one cultural group ended up in two different nations.
Some 75 miles of the Mexico-Arizona border crosses the O'odham reservation. In modern times, tribal members have moved between the two countries using traditional routes with relative ease. A wall would create major problems for these native inhabitants.
"The fence they are discussing now would undermine all of our discussions and agreements with the Border Patrol and create undue harm to our land," Juan-Saunders said. "We need (cross-border) access to allow our members to seek health care, to participate in ceremonies and to engage in cultural processes."
About 14,000 O'odham live on the reservation. That figure includes 1,400 members who live in Mexico in areas that have historically been inhabited by tribal members.
Congress is debating the possibility of erecting a wall along the international boundary from Calexico on the California-Mexico border to Douglas in Southeastern Arizona.
One of the problems faced by tribal members is that each time a wall has been erected in other places, or security is beefed up, it has resulted in pushing more illegal immigrants into the rugged and relatively unsecured reservation lands.
The O'odham government does not want the problems created by illegal immigrants. However, it also does not want a wall that would impede wildlife trails or routes that have been traditionally used by tribal members to get to and from health- care facilities at Sells or to ceremonies at outlying villages.
"Our situation is very unique compared to other areas in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas," Juan-Saunders said. "We need to develop a plan that will be respectful (to the tribe's cultural concerns) and take into consideration the homeland security issues."
She said the nation has already agreed to allow the creation of "law enforcement centers" on the eastern and western ends of the reservation, and also to the construction of a "vehicle barrier fence," which would be about 4 feet high.
The flow of illegal immigrants is far from the only problem faced by the nation. The same isolated terrain that makes the reservation attractive to immigrants seeking work in the United States is also attractive to drug smugglers.
Population density on the reservation, which is roughly the size of Connecticut, is so low that smugglers and illegal immigrants can often avoid law enforcement patrols. But the rough terrain is also very dry and, in the summer, extremely hot, and many immigrants have died of exposure before they could reach a water source.
The House has already approved the 700-mile barrier, without appropriating any money for its construction, and the Senate is to consider it this week, possibly as early as today.
The nation has expressed its concerns to members of Arizona's congressional delegation. With luck, they will prevail upon others in Congress — especially those for whom the border is an abstraction or merely a political issue — to respect the wishes of the aboriginal people who call the region home.
● The comprehensive investigative series continues today, Page A1 ● go.azstarnet.com/secureborder
