NPCA Calls For Border Wall Halt As Construction Damages Ancestral Burial Sites At Organ Pipe

TUCSON, Ariz—New accounts of damage at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, reported by ProPublica this week, link border wall construction activity to unearthing Native American ancestral remains. Tribal leaders have warned that border wall construction in the area would damage ancestral and cultural sites.

Since 2005, the Department of Homeland Security has had unchecked power to waive any environmental or cultural protection law meant to protect places like Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument for border wall construction.

Construction of the existing 30-foot border wall at Organ Pipe began in 2019 and currently extends across the full length of the park’s border. Similar environmental and cultural destruction from the first wall along the monument’s southern boundary has already been documented by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, including damage to sensitive ecosystems, wildlife migration routes, water access and cultural sites.

Construction for the duplicative second border wall through the park also threatens Quitobaquito Springs, an important cultural site for local Indigenous communities who have stewarded this landscape since time immemorial.

The destruction unfolding at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Coronado National Memorial can be halted. The administration temporarily paused efforts to build damaging border infrastructure in Big Bend National Park following a wave of public backlash. A federal court issued a preliminary injunction that currently bars border construction in Big Bend.

The National Parks Conservation Association issued the following response and is calling for an immediate halt to border wall construction at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and through the Tohono O’odham Nation which borders the park site, and Coronado National Memorial.

Statement from Sanober Mirza, Arizona Senior Program Manager at the National Parks Conservation Association

“This was a preventable tragedy. For months, the Department of Homeland Security has operated outside the law to bulldoze a border wall through Organ Pipe. For centuries, Indigenous peoples have lived with, cared for, and depended on the landscape protected here. Places that have been inhabited for thousands of years and irreplaceable cultural sites remain in active use, and now those places are being destroyed or permanently altered by wall development. We knew this was going to happen, and no apology can undo the desecration. There must be an immediate halt to all border wall construction here.”

Statement from Michaela Pavlat, Indigenous Engagement Associate Director at the National Parks Conservation Association

“Border wall construction through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and the Tohono O’odham Nation has led to this outrageous violation that has disrupted the resting place of Native relatives. The waiving of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, along with countless other environmental and cultural protection laws, brought us to this point. Ignoring these bedrock laws disregards dignity and respect to Native American remains and for culturally significant objects displaced from Tribal Nations.”

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About the National Parks Conservation Association: Since 1919, the nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) has been the leading voice in safeguarding our national parks. NPCA and its more than 1.9 million members and supporters work together to protect and preserve our nation’s most iconic and inspirational places for future generations. For more information, visit www.npca.org.