BORTAC-Escorted Contractors Begin Border Wall Work on Tohono O'odham Nation Land; ProPublica Documents Surveillance of Prayer Camp

At 4:59 a.m. on Aug. 25, Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Verlon Jose received an email from the head of the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector; Border Patrol wrote that government contractors were en route to conduct soil tests for construction of a 62-mile wall along the Nation’s southern boundary (ProPublica). KJZZ reports Jose said armed Border Patrol agents, U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs officers and other federal entities were in the tribal nation, some wearing tactical gear and masks, and that Border Patrol told his office the pre-construction work will go on for seven to 10 days. ProPublica reports that a trio of Border Patrol supervisors approached, including one representing BORTAC, the agency’s special operations wing, and that Jose’s statement revealed the Department of Homeland Security had deployed a surveillance blimp and enlisted Mexican security forces to help protect the work crews. ProPublica writes that the contractors’ heavy vehicles were all beyond the 60-foot zone that government attorneys assured the judge they would not leave. The court’s opinion records a government declarant’s statement that the contractor has been instructed to confine the project footprint to the 60-foot federal Roosevelt Reservation.

The Nation’s suit, Tohono O’odham Nation v. Mullin, No. 1:26-cv-02127-RJL (D.D.C.), is before Judge Richard J. Leon, who denied the Nation’s motion for a preliminary injunction; the order was entered Aug. 14. The Nation has appealed to the D.C. Circuit, No. 26-5306.

ProPublica writes that DHS has turned its apparatus on tribal members, with 24-hour surveillance directed at an ongoing border prayer ceremony and tribal members being questioned outside the reservation about their ceremonial activities. ProPublica reports that in June a $1.3 billion contract for the wall, known as the Tucson 5 project, was awarded to Sullivan Land Services Co. The USAspending record for award 70B01C26F00000385 names SLS FEDERAL SERVICES LLC as the recipient, with a total obligation of $1,313,227,200 and a base-and-all-options value of $2,214,283,200. ProPublica writes that CBP had informed the tribe in February that it planned to seal off the reservation entirely, tapping nearly $52 billion from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act; Judge Leon’s opinion says Congress appropriated $46 billion to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for, among other things, barrier construction. The figures are not reconciled here. According to Jose, the CBP commissioner told the delegation that if they filed a lawsuit opposing the wall, the Nation could lose access to three border gates. The tribe’s interim chief of police claimed a 90% drop in reports of illegal entry over the preceding year. ProPublica writes that within hours of the ruling on Aug. 14, the department’s general counsel, James Percival, posted a meme of a Borg supervillain: “RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.” Related surveillance spending: 2026-07-14–ice-cbp-surveillance-spending-513m-palantir-backbone.