Tohono Odham Nation Summary

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Miller also provides a historical overview of the native residents of the Tohono O’odham Tribal Nation. The Tohono O’odham Nation lies on the border between the United States and Mexico. It has become the frontline in America’s battle for border surveillance. The border surveillance apparatus has impacted the O’odhamians whose aboriginal land extends well into Mexico and has been bisected by an international boundary they never wanted. To strengthen his argument, he gathered a considerable number of anecdotes from Indians, where they claimed that the residents have experienced the human rights violations by the Border Patrol agents including bodily injuries and verbal threats He also mentioned tail gating, blinding spotlights, arrests and deportations …show more content…

(Members of the Tohono O 'odham Nation of Arizona protest militarization of the U.S. border.) Miller presented the interesting facts by finding that not only immigrants, but US citizens are also vulnerable to harassment by the agency. The designation and treatment of citizens as “enemy combatants” also puts the matter into bold relief. In “U.S. Citizens in Name Only”, Miller delineates the increased racial profiling towards certain groups (Latino, Islamic, Asians, etc). He reports that the presence of Border Patrol on the nation is buzzing, entrenched, and now apparently expanding. This expanding presence raises questions that involve themes of racial profiling and human rights. The factors that determine what makes people a threat are inherently embedded in discriminatory practices. In an interview he says, “If you are associated with a certain community, ethnicity, religion, or even political ideology (real or perceived), you can be a target of the Border Patrol. A hierarchy of citizenship has been created where an upstanding