The Tohono O'odham Nation and the United States-Mexico Border

Abstract

This Note will proceed as follows. Part I will provide a brief sketch of the Tohono O’odham Nation’s history. Part II addresses the inability of the O’odham people to freely travel across their land; how that negatively impacts their cultural practices and access to services such as healthcare. Part III details the way policies at the United States-Mexico border have increased the number of migrants illegally crossing where the O’odham Nation abuts the border. Part III will also examine how the increase in illegal crossing has heightened crime and left the O’odham without adequate law enforcement. Part IV critically analyzes solutions suggested by those writing about the struggles of the O’odham. This Note provides a different solution that draws from the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and how a developing agreement, the Nordic Sami Convention, can be used as a model for supporting indigenous groups that span international borders.