Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Watch the February 26, 2020 Hearing: "Destroying Sacred Sites and Erasing Tribal Culture: The Trump Administration's Construction of the Border Wall.
The Association advocates for the federal protection of Tribal sacred sites. The recent destruction of Monument Hill and other sites in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument that are sacred to O’odham and other Indigenous Peoples, and the federal government's ongoing failure to consult Tribes and Nations on projects on or around sacred sites, violates the federal trust responsibility.

In testimony to the United States House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee, Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States, we describe: the importance of sacred sites to diverse Native American religious practices and the federal government’s role in the sacred site protection; how the Trump administration’s ongoing construction of the border wall represents an imminent threat to sacred sites; and the existing federal laws that may be used to protect them. 

Take Action

TELL THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO STOP DESECRATING SACRED AND RELIGIOUS SITES!
Call the Department of Homeland Security at (202) 360-8998
Call your Congress member and tell them to hold DHS accountable: (202) 224-3121
Call the White House: (202) 456-1414

Testimony of Chairman Ned Norris, Jr. of the Tohono O'odham Nation of Arizona

"This disrespect for our sacred sites and their desecration at the hands of our federal government is deeply painful. These sites are not only sacred to the Nation – they are a part of our shared cultural heritage as United States citizens. As Americans, we all should be horrified that the federal government has so little respect for our religious and cultural values, and does not appear to have any intention of slowing down enough to understand or avoid the harm it is causing."

Testimony of Shannon Keller O'Loughlin, Association on American Indian Affairs 

"I am sure this Subcommittee fully understands the devastating statistics in Indian Country – our children’s suicide rates, our heart disease rates, the numbers of our women and men raped, murdered and trafficked – then you must understand how important – how absolutely necessary our cultural and religious practices are to our healing. We cannot recover from centuries of trauma and dispossession unless we can protect and maintain the places where we go to become whole again. The Association fully supports Congress in its effort to investigate and cure Indian sacred site destruction and religious freedom violations." 

Testimony of
​Prof. Sarah Krakoff, University of Colorado Law School 


"[T]he Administration’s fervor to get its wall in place has two destructive aspects. First, the Administration is blasting through all of the legal protections that were carefully designed to protect the rights and interests of tribes as well as all other Americans. And second, the Administration is heedlessly destroying irreplaceable cultural, spiritual, archeological, and ecological resources in which Native nations have unique interests, and that implicate all of us."

Testimony of
​Scott J. Cameron, U.S. Department of the Interior
 

​Note: The logic of the Department of Interior defense of policies leading to the irrevocable destruction of sacred sites is highly suspect and offensive. See, "Along this border, cultural resources, wilderness areas, wildlife refuges, plants and animals are adversely impacted by land degradation and destruction from trails, trash, fires and other activities related to unlawful border crossings," which is presented as a rationale for blasting Native American burial grounds and other sacred sites.

Additional Resources