Federal judge clears path for border wall construction on Arizona tribal land

WASHINGTON - A federal judge refused to stop the Trump administration from moving ahead with border wall construction along part of the Tohono O'odham Nation reservation in Arizona, according to Fox News and the Associated Press.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, sitting in Washington, D.C., denied the tribe's request for a court-ordered halt to construction of about 62 miles of wall along the reservation's shared border with Mexico. The nation argued the project would trespass on tribal land and effectively shrink the reservation without its consent.

Leon wrote that national security and foreign policy considerations related to the border wall warrant deference to the government. He pointed to a 1907 proclamation by President Theodore Roosevelt that placed public land within 60 feet of the international boundary under exclusive federal control to fight smuggling between the United States and Mexico.

The judge noted the Tohono O'odham reservation was not declared until 1917, after that proclamation. Members of the nation had posted no-trespassing warnings and said federal workers surveying construction sites should be escorted off the land.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin's office said daily border apprehensions are down 94 percent compared with the prior administration and stand at the lowest level in 30 years. Mullin said the administration remains focused on enforcing immigration law and securing the border.

The order does not by itself finish construction. It rejects the tribe's request for a halt so planning and building steps can continue under federal authority. Further appeals remain possible.