Lorraine Eiler stood in the blazing August sun, surrounded by reporters, to offer a warning.
asserted
Eiler → stand → warning
The Trump administration was racing to erect a second border wall across Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, southwest of Tucson.
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administration → race → Tucson
If the bulldozers came, she said, they were bound to disturb the final resting places of her family and Hia-Ced O’odham tribal ancestors.
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they → come → family
“People used to live here,” the 89-year-old said.
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old → use → ?
Fifteen days later, her fears were realized.
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fears → realize → ?
ProPublica has confirmed that Native American remains were unearthed in Organ Pipe amid soil overturned by border wall contractors.
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remains → confirm → contractors
The discovery, unreported until now, was made on Sept. 8, the National Park Service said in a statement.
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Service → make → statement
“Following established protocols, the University of Arizona conducted an assessment and confirmed that the remains are human and align with tribal cremation practices,” the agency said.
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agency → follow → practices
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act governs the steps agencies must take following an inadvertent discovery of Native American remains on federal land.
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agencies → govern → land
Those steps include halting any activity that contributed to the discovery until tribal communities are consulted.
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communities → include → discovery
“The National Park Service is committed to respecting tribal rights and traditions,” the agency went on to say, adding that it was “working diligently to identify the culturally affiliated tribe and ensure the respectful return of the remains, so the tribe may observe their religious and cultural practices.”
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tribe → commit → practices
Eiler was alerted to the discovery by a cultural affairs specialist with the Tohono O’odham Nation, a larger tribe whose reservation is east of Organ Pipe, and later by the Organ Pipe superintendent’s office.
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reservation → alert → office
Her family discussed what to do next.
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family → discuss → what
Ultimately, they decided to hold off on reburying the newly unearthed remains until construction in the area stops, fearing the work will disturb more sites.
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work → decide → sites
“Who knows what more will come up,” Eiler said in an interview.
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Eiler → know → interview
“They’re going to find remains wherever they dig.”
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they → go → remains
Customs and Border Protection contractors have bulldozed a wide swath of vegetation parallel to the international divide.
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contractors → bulldoze → divide
The agency has fashioned staging areas for heavy equipment by knocking down, uprooting and attempting to transplant select specimens of the monument’s native plants.
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agency → fashion → plants
Eiler was told the remains were found by a park service archaeologist near the base of a saguaro cactus that was still standing.
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that → tell → cactus
In a statement, CBP said it was advised of the discovery six days after it was made, that its cultural resource specialists examined the area and found no other remains, and that “no additional construction has occurred at this location to date.”
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construction → say → date
The discovery comes amid tensions between the Department of Homeland Security and tribal communities in the Sonoran Desert.
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discovery → come → Desert
In April, border wall contractors bulldozed through a large, well-marked earthen etching, known as the Las Playas Intaglio, that was believed to be at least 6,500 years old.
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that → bulldoze → Intaglio
(CBP said the incident was accidental.)
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incident → say → ?
Soon after, the department awarded a $1.3 billion contract for construction of a 62-mile border wall across the entirety of the Tohono O’odham Nation.
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department → award → Nation
The tribe is fighting the project in federal court and has erected “no trespassing” signs to keep border wall contractors off its land.
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tribe → fight → land
As ProPublica recently reported, DHS has responded by deploying masked federal agents as escorts for its work crews and conducting aerial surveillance of tribal members.
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DHS → report → members
The head of CBP has justified the need for a wall by describing the reservation as “one of the most dangerous smuggling and trafficking corridors on the Southwest border.”
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head → justify → border
Verlon M. Jose, the tribe’s chairman, expressed gratitude that the park service had notified his office of the discovery, but mourned the fact that it was necessary.
“When you have mass destruction and disturbance of land taking place where there are clearly sacred sites, cemeteries and other areas of cultural importance, these types of discoveries are bound to happen,” Jose said in a statement.
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Jose → express → statement
“Every time this happens it is a wound to the heart of all members of the Tohono O’odham Nation — these are our ancestors, our family members — whose remains are being desecrated.”
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remains → happen → Nation
U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva, who appeared with Eiler and the chairman at the August news conference, blasted the government for failing to heed their warnings.
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who → appear → warnings
“Tribal leaders and elders have warned DHS about the devastating consequences of bulldozing through their ancestral lands, beginning with the destruction of the Las Playas Intaglio,” she said in a statement.
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she → warn → statement
“For months, those warnings have fallen on deaf ears.
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warnings → fall → ears
Now, we are seeing exactly what they feared: sacred sites destroyed and ancestral burial grounds desecrated.”
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grounds → see → sites
James T. Watson, curator of bioarcheology in the Arizona State Museum at the University of Arizona, analyzed the remains recovered in Organ Pipe in the field.
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Watson → analyze → field
While he was not authorized to discuss the details of his findings without park service approval, Watson said in an email that he confirmed the remains were human.
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remains → authorize → email
The evidence suggested they were cremated in a manner consistent with precolonial practices in the region dating back 1,500 years, he wrote.
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he → suggest → region
Under NAGPRA, the graves protection act, Native American remains inadvertently uncovered on park service lands must be immediately secured, Watson explained, and the superintendent of the jurisdiction must notify “all relevant lineal descendants” with “potential cultural affiliation or ancestral ties to the land.”
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superintendent → uncover → land
“Work in the immediate discovery area must remain suspended for at least 30 calendar days,” he wrote, while the park service consults with tribal representatives “to determine the disposition and physical treatment of the remains.
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service → remain → remains
In a region as rich with archaeological sites as the American Southwest, the inadvertent disturbance of Native American remains occurs with some regularity.
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disturbance → occur → regularity
What sets the discovery in Organ Pipe apart are the extraordinary powers the Department of Homeland Security wields to expedite wall construction in the borderlands.
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Department → set → borderlands
…and 33 more, not listed.
The Aporia
