Activist Tree-Sit in Ancient Cottonwood Continues Against Border Wall Construction in Arizona

A protest camp in the small border town of Lochiel, Arizona, is seeking to stop federal contractors from building another portion of President Trump’s border barrier with Mexico. At the center of the protest camp is a 200-year-old cottonwood known as a “grandmother” tree, with activists sitting in the tree to physically stop its destruction.

“People are successfully forcing the government to stop, to slow down, or at least change course on border wall construction,” says journalist John Washington, a staff writer for the queer news outlet Lookout and author of multiple books about immigration. “They’ve been very clear that this is both an environmental and a political fight.”