La Posta Tribe Seeks Restraining Order/Injunction to HaltConstruction of Illegal Border Wall
- SHIELD
- Aug 14, 2020
- 3 min read
For Immediate Release (PDF attached)
August 14, 2020
La Posta Tribe Seeks Restraining Order/Injunction to Halt Construction of Illegal Border Wall
Wall Construction Desecrating Kumeyaay Ancestral Burial and Sacred Sites
San Diego, CA – Save the Homelands of the Indigenous and End Land Desecration (SHIELD), a coalition of advocates battling the Trump Administration’s construction of a border wall on sacred Kumeyaay sites and burial grounds, announced today that the La Posta Band of the Diegueño Mission Indians have filed a lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to halt the construction of the border wall—a project promoted by the President of the United States that is being funded and constructed without authorization from Congress and which is violating the constitutional rights of the La Posta citizens.
“Since time immemorial, the Kumeyaay people have lived in the area near San Diego and Imperial Counties surrounding what is now the United States-Mexico border,” the court filing reads. “Since the arrival of Europeans in the region, the Kumeyaay territory, culture, religion, and very existence have been under attack to make way for non-Indian settlement. In the most recent episode of Indigenous erasure, the President of the United States and his administration are desecrating Kumeyaay ancestral burial and sacred sites to make way for a wall along the southern border.”
La Posta tribal members, along with other Kumeyaay tribal members, have been actively protesting the construction of the Border Wall because of the impacts of construction to tribal cultural sites.
“We cannot sit back and continue to watch the bones of our ancestors being dug up and strewn about like random debris. Ancestral Kumeyaay burials are being impacted, and construction continues to tear through our former village sites along the border wall areas,” said Cynthia Parada, spokeswoman for SHIELD and Council member with the La Posta tribe. “With no prior consideration or attempt to mitigate impacts, our sacred sites are being carved into and desecrated for construction of the Border Wall. We have asked for formal government to government consultation, yet the Border Patrol and Army Corps of Engineers continue to move forward with grading and bulldozing through our ancestral lands. With no other options, we now ask the court to intervene and stop the construction so that consultation can take place to mitigate the impacts to our sacred sites.”
The filed lawsuit names President Donald J. Trump; Secretary Esper, U.S. Secretary of Defense; Secretary Wolf, Acting U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security; and Lieutenant General Todd T. Semonite, Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, all in their official capacities, as defendants.
The suit claims that:
The Defendants’ transfer of funds from the military to the Drug Interdiction and Counter-Narcotics Activities account violates §§ 739, 8005, 8129, and 9002 of the FY 2020 Consolidated Appropriations Act.
The Defendants’ use of the $1.375 billion for border wall construction violates Div. D §§ 8129, 210 of the FY 2020 Consolidated Appropriations Act.
The Defendants’ construction of the border wall construction violates the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (“IIRIRA”), Section 102(b)(1)(C) by not consulting with the Tribe prior to commencement of construction.
Defendants’ unauthorized transfer of funds to the Drug Interdiction and Counter-Narcotics Activities account violates the Appropriations Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
The President’s attempt to circumvent Congress and the Consolidated Appropriations Act through the reprogramming of funds for the wall violates the Presentment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Defendants’ transfer of funding without authorization from the FY 2020 Consolidated Appropriations Act and construction in excess of its authority under IIRIRA is a violation of the Administrative Procedures Act.
Defendants are violating the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by excavating and desecrating Kumeyaay remains and prohibiting Tribal members from properly treating the remains and participating in religious ceremonies at the Tribe’s sacred sites where the border wall construction is taking place.
Defendants are violating the Religious Freedom Restoration Act by not accommodating the religious practices of Tribal members when restricted by border wall construction.
Defendants are violating the Tribe’s 5th Amendment procedural and substantive Due Process interests by taking cultural property without due process; infringing liberty interest in cultural practices without due process; and depriving the Tribe’s property interest in cultural remains.
The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court, Southern District of California.
The plaintiffs are represented by Rosette LLP, a leading majority-Indian owned national law firm representing tribal governments and tribal entities.
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