Indigenous burial sites destroyed for US-Mexico border wall: Reports

The lawmakers and tribal leaders said that native American burial sites in Arizona have been destroyed by the construction crews to build the US President Donald Trump's border wall between US and Mexico. According to international reports, the authorities have confirmed that 'controlled blasting' has started in Organ Pipe Cactus National Movement at Tohono O'odham Nation which is a United Nations-recognised natural reserve about 185 kilometres west of Tucson. 

UNESCO has designated Organ Pipe which is also known as Monument Hill as an International Biosphere Reserve in 1976 and has called it 'a pristine example of an intact Sonoran Desert ecosystem'. However, the officials have claimed that the aim of the project is to construct a steel barrier 30-feet long which will run for 43 miles on the national parkland. 

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O'odham was not consulted

While reacting to the news, a Democratic lawmaker reportedly called the destruction as 'sacrilegious' and added that the federal government failed to consult the Tohono O'odham Nation whose people buried warriors from the rival Apache tribe there. According to the chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, Grijalva the destruction which she saw is against the indigenous groups who were laid to rest. 

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Grijalva further said that Trump administration is 'basically trampling' on the history of the tribe and its ancestors. Tribal chairman Ned Norris Jr told a local media outlet that even though the land is now controlled by the White House, the people have inhabited the area since 'time immemorial'. According to international media reports, an internal report from the National Park Service has said that Donald Trump's signature campaign promised in 2015 would destroy up to 22 archaeological sites within Organ Pipe alone. 

However, Trump administration has pulled hundreds of millions of dollars from several government accounts to construct a barrier through 450 miles between US and Mexico. Earlier this month, the government had also announced that the wall had reached the 100-mile mark by replacing the existing portions of the wall with new, enhanced designs. Nearly half a mile was constructed brand new in the Rio Grande Valley as no wall had previously existed.  

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(With agency inputs)