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A federal judge has temporarily paused President Trump's border wall construction in and around Big Bend National Park in Texas. Protesters have not been successful at stopping construction in Arizona. Centuries-old cottonwood trees have been bulldozed, and a Native American tribe says thousands of iconic cacti are next. KJZZ's Alisa Reznick reports.
(SOUNDBITE OF TREE FALLING)
ALISA REZNICK, BYLINE: A towering cottonwood tree crashes into the dirt in this video shot by protesters. Its limbs crackle as they hit the ground. Protesters scream in the background. Border wall contractors felled this tree on the Arizona border southeast of Tucson earlier this month. It was the last in a 150- to 200-year-old grove right along the Arizona-Mexico border here. Customs and Border Protection said the grove's demolition was needed to make way for two parallel steel walls, one piece of a multibillion-dollar project along the border.
When the other trees in the grove were bulldozed more than two months ago, protesters set up a wooden platform in the last cottonwood's branches and camped on private land right next to it. This month, Border Patrol agents swarmed the camp and used a crane to forcibly remove the person inside the tree. Alex Chabbott, an activist with the group, says construction went into overdrive after that.
ALEX CHABBOTT: And you can see a panel going up right now.
REZNICK: Alex Chabbott is watching a huge steel panel being placed into the ground.
CHABBOTT: It takes them six minutes between touching it and putting it up for it to be locked in place. They're moving so fast, and they worked all night.
REZNICK: Activists say roughly two dozen people were arrested by Border Patrol agents. Most now face a misdemeanor charge for violating a closure order. Both walls now snake their way through the hilly grassland here, and the trees that once lined the border have all been removed. Chabbott says he knows most people wouldn't consider what's happening as a win for protesters.
CHABBOTT: For me, it's not so much about the immediate win as much as just being on the right side of history, standing up for what we believe in.
REZNICK: Customs and Border Protection has not responded to questions about the protesters' arrests or whether agents had a warrant to enter their camp on private land. Now the agency is poised to tear out thousands of saguaro cactus to make way for the walls about 200 miles west of the cottonwoods in the Tohono O'odham Nation. Tribal Chairman Verlon Jose says that's what CBP told his tribe.
VERLON JOSE: We're next. So it's not a matter that the contractors are not going to come. It's a matter of when the contractors are going to come.
REZNICK: Saguaros are an iconic and protected cactus found only in the Sonoran Desert. Their huge green limbs grow slowly over the course of decades and can stretch more than 60 feet tall. They're sacred to the Tohono O'odham.
VERLON JOSE: The likelihood of them surviving any kind of transplant are not very high.
REZNICK: In June, the tribe sued to stop construction on the roughly 60 miles of border inside the reservation. But so far, their requests have been denied. Jose says tribal members set up a prayer camp to monitor the work. His office is bracing for a federal response like the one in the cottonwood grove. Protesters from the grove, who spent one to four nights in federal custody, say they'll find another place to defend. Tohono O'odham prayer camp leaders have asked for support. Tribal leaders say non-tribal members can be invited, as long as they don't cause harm.
For NPR News, I'm Alisa Reznick in Tucson. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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