Replies

The Tohono O'Odham were formerly known as the Papago. Their reservation is the second largest in the country, covering approximately 4,500 square miles, which is approximately the size of the state of Connecticut. A portion of the reservation extends into Mexico.

The reservation is well known for it drug and alien traffic. The tribal council and the BP do not see eye to eye, and I've heard many reports that the head families on the council are helping the smuggling of drugs and aliens.

Because the reservation extends into Mexico and has tribal members on it, I believe the tribal council will not complain about the Mexican military or Federal Police, as they do not wish those agencies to retaliate against their tribal members in Mexico.

When I was in Lukeville, we had many a problem with the tribal members smuggling other members across the border. We even tried to seize one of the tribal vehicles. That produced a phone call from the Governors office at about 1 AM. Needless to say, we did not try that again. I'm still missing part of my butt. LOL.

Hmm, their rez is big allright and most of it is in Mexico. I just found a webpage for the Heard foundation which has some maps and other info. I knew some Pima a long time ago and was remembering what they said about Rurales being very hard on Papago who lived in both countries. It's been a long time since I thought about that and didn't know about their real name. The Pima I knew called the Papago their relatives, but I didn't know the reservations were separated like they are.

That being the case, a huge reservation which stretches over most of the Sonoran desert bordered by the three big rivers and most of it in Mexico, well, that rez would be a natural place for Mexican incursion. The tribal council would be more interested in protecting their own people from retribution by Mexican military or police than in providing info to the US officials. What a mess. That rez could be a flashpoint.