In early August, my essay “The Borderland” was published at The Rumpus. The piece describes life in the border town my parents have called home for the past seventeen years. They moved to the Arizona/Mexico border to work as volunteer park rangers at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a protected biosphere and home to many Native American sacred sites.
Yesterday morning, this happened:
Quitobaquito springs is a sacred site of the Hia C’ed Oodham people. Federal laws waived by DHS for the construction of new border wall include:
From No More Deaths/No Más Muertes:
- National Environmental Policy Act [NEPA]
- Endangered Species Act
- Clean Water Act
- National Historic Preservation Act
- Migratory Bird Treaty Act
- Clean Air Act
- Archeological Resources Protection Act
- Safe Drinking Water Act
- Noise Control Act
- Solid Waste Disposal Act
- Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
- Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act
- Antiquities Act
- Historic Sites, Buildings, and Antiquities Act
- Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
- Farmland Protection Policy Act
- Coastal Zone Management Act
- Wilderness Act
- Federal Land Policy and Management Act
- National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act
- Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956
- Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act
- Administrative Procedure Act
- Otay Mountain Wilderness Act of 1999
- California Desert Protection Act [Sections 102(29) and 103 of Title I]
- National Park Service Organic Act
- National Park Service General Authorities Act
- National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 [Sections 401(7), 403, and 404]
- Arizona Desert Wilderness Act [Sections 301(a)-(f)] 30.Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899
- Eagle Protection Act
- Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
- American Indian Religious Freedom Act
- Religious Freedom Restoration Act
- National Forest Management Act of 1976
- Multiple Use and Sustained Yield Act of 1960
- Military Lands Withdrawal Act of 1999
- Sikes Act
- Arizona-Idaho Conservation Act of 1988
- Federal Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act of 1977
- Migratory Bird Conservation Act
- Paleontological Resources Preservation Act
- Federal Cave Resources Protection Act of 1988
- National Trails System Act
- National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997
- Reclamation Project Act of 1939 [Section 10]
- Wild Horse and Burro Act
- An Act of Oct 30, 2000, Pub. L. 106-398, 1, 114 Stat. 1654
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In springtime, the arroyos fill with water and the desert floor swells with green. By July, the saguaros bloom red with fruit. Ha:sañ is the O’odham word for saguaro cactus, and Ha:sañ Bak means “the saguaro is ready.”
Before the first harvest, Tohono O’odham rub the meat of a fallen saguaro fruit on the body near the heart. When you enter the desert, you must have a clear mind and a good heart.
In Tohono Oʼodham there is no word for wall.
“The Borderland,” The Rumpus
LEIGH HOPKINS 