An article about those trapped in between.
...A delegation of Tohono O'odham left for Washington, D.C., on June 2 to seek U.S. citizenship for 8,400 tribal members.
Tribal officials want the U.S. government to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 to make all enrolled tribal members U.S. citizens. Under the amended act, the tribal membership card would serve as proof of citizenship or a birth certificate.
"The federal government needs to right a wrong committed in 1853, when our traditional lands were divided between Mexico and the United States," Tribal Vice Chairman Henry Ramon said.
American Indians who live along the U.S.-Canadian border were given dual citizenship through treaties hundreds of years ago and have not faced separation from their people. They travel freely between both countries.
This was not done for the Tohono O'odham, Ramon said. "I am very confident that the politicians will listen to us and make it right."
The border, tribal officials say, is causing hardship for 8,400 members on both sides of it - most of them with no birth certificates to prove citizenship. The tribe has 24,000 enrolled members.
It's an ongoing problem that began intensifying in 1986 with changes in U.S. immigration laws and with beefed-up drug enforcement along 75 miles of Tohono O'odham land that abuts the border in remote desert.
For decades, with the blessing of the U.S. government, Tohono O'odham members in both countries were allowed to cross the border freely to work, participate in religious ceremonies, keep medical appointments in Sells and visit relatives.
As the border crossings became more difficult, families stopped making their routine trips. For some, health or family emergencies were worth the risk of dealing with U.S. Border Patrol agents, jail time and the confiscation of their vehicles.
In 1999, a pilot program between Mexico and U.S. immigration officials led to Mexican passports and U.S. border-crossing cards for 100 enrolled tribal members in Mexico.
That led the tribe's Legislative Council last year to allocate $102,310 to pay for the remaining 1,238 Mexican passports and U.S. border-crossing cards for Tohono O'odham in Mexico.
Immigration officials on both sides of the border worked together to make this happen -waiving certain documents, and using tribal rolls to meet requirements.
But this did not solve the problems in three situations: O'odham living in the United States who are Mexican-born; O'odham born in the United States who cannot prove it; and O'odham children who qualify for dual citizenship but don't have it.
"I am very confident that the politicians will listen to us and make it right," Ramon says.
"I think something needs to be done, but I think it will be a difficult road," said Pastor, adding that some politicians think U.S. immigration laws are already too lax.
"I will work with them to try to help them achieve their goal," Pastor said.
For centuries, said Ramon, Tohono O'odham, which means "desert people," lived on their traditional lands - lands that stretched from Phoenix south to Hermosillo, Sonora, and west to the Gulf of California.
The Tohono O'odham Nation's capital is Sells, which is about 60 miles west of Tucson. The reservation is about the size of Connecticut and includes 11 districts.
The Tohono O'odham lived there long before it was part of New Spain, and later, Mexico, after its independence was won in 1821.
The Gila River was the boundary between Mexico and the United States in 1848, when Mexico ceded the land north of it.
The river remained the international boundary until Congress ratified the Gadsden Purchase of the southern portions of New Mexico and Arizona in 1854.
Affected tribal members
The four groups of Tohono O'odham affected by the U.S.-Mexico border and laws that define nationality are:
* About 7,000 members who were born in the United States, but who do not have documents to obtain birth certificates.
Some of these people cannot get Social Security numbers, retirement benefits, veterans' benefits, widows' benefits, a driver's license or a passport.
* About 1,400 members who were born in Mexico and still live there.
* Members born in Mexico who now live illegally in the United States. Several hundred of this group are included in the tally of 7,000 affected members.
* Members born in Mexico of parents who are U.S. citizens, but whose parents cannot prove it. These members live illegally in the United States but qualify for dual citizenship. This number also is included in the 7,000 affected members.
Politicians did not take the Tohono O'odham into consideration when lines were drawn in 1853, dividing the tribe's traditional lands, said Ramon, 66, who was born in the Hickiwan District, where he grew up farming. He later became an auto mechanic, served in the Korean War, studied at the University of Utah, worked as an alcoholism counselor and entered politics in 1972.
He said the Tohono O'odham should have been guaranteed U.S. citizenship when their lands were cut in half, such as what happened with American Indians who live along the U.S.-Canadian border.
Ramon said another historical oversight in extending citizenship to members occurred in 1937, when Congress formally recognized the Tohono O'odham Nation as an indigenous sovereign government. It was then the U.S. government took a census on both sides of the border and enrolled members based on O'odham blood, not on country of residency, birth or citizenship. This census was the basis for tribal recognition.
Ramon and 66-year-old Maria Jesus Romo-Robles, an enrolled member who was born in and lives in Sonoyta, Sonora, are among the delegation's members, who will share stories with Capitol Hill politicians.
Romo-Robles and Ramon remember as children an open border with families crossing freely - no visas or birth certificates required.
Ramon remembers as a young boy stories about federal U.S. buses traveling into Mexico and picking up and bringing O'odham children to schools in Arizona.
"My father used to cross and work as a laborer at the mine in Ajo," said Romo-Robles. "He also was a vendor and would bring and sell fruit, cheese and wine to families."
Today, Romo-Robles has seven children - all tribal members - living in Eloy and the Phoenix area, working in construction, agriculture, a clothing factory and a restaurant.
One son works for the tribe in the San Lucy District, where he irrigates cotton, melon and wheat fields.
They are all living in the United States illegally. For years, Romo-Robles could not cross and see her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren because she feared prosecution.
When she was sick with gallbladder and bladder disease, she crossed through an opening in the barbed-wire fence to go to the Sells hospital.
Romo-Robles spent many holidays alone, because her children moved north for a better life.
"They say this land is ours, but they don't treat us like it is ours," she said.
"I want Congress to help my people," said Romo-Robles who left for the federal capital last week - a first in leaving her traditional O'odham lands.
"I'm ready to stand up for my nation and my children. They are my treasures. I love them dearly," she said.
* Contact Carmen Duarte at 573-4195 or at cduarte@azstarnet.com.
To contact your congressman: You can contact your congressman or senator to voice your opinion on the issue at the following numbers:
* Sen. John McCain (Republican) at (202) 224-2235 or 670-6334
* Sen. Jon Kyl (R) at (202) 224-4521 or 575-8633
* Rep. Jim Kolbe (R) at (202) 225-2542 or 881-3588
* Rep. Ed Pastor (Democrat) at (202) 225-4065 or 624-9986
