Border Wall Construction Is Desecrating Kumeyaay Sacred Sites, Indigenous Leaders Say

U.S. federal contractors have been blasting and bulldozing Kuuchamaa Mountain — a site sacred to the Kumeyaay Nation that straddles the U.S.-Mexico border — to make way for new sections of border wall. Kuuchamaa was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992, with the listing warning that “discarding or disturbing the mountain’s natural state would be sacrilegious.” Kumeyaay leaders have met with DHS officials, are exploring legal action, and note that desecrating a sacred Native American site on federal or tribal land is a felony.