For four hours, Raymond V. Buelna sat in a concrete holding space at the U.S.-Mexico border. Buelna, a U.S. citizen, is a cultural leader for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. He wondered when the two people he was taking to an Easter ceremony on tribal land in Arizona might be released.
Buelna was driving the two from a related tribal community in northwestern Mexico to the southern Arizona reservation. U.S. officials had authorized them to cross the border. But they were still detained.
“They know that we’re coming,” says Buelna. “Why can’t there be a system? Why can’t there be already a line for us where we can present the proper paperwork . . . and go about our way?”
Now the Pascua Yaqui Tribe is trying to change this for itself and potentially dozens of other tribes.
Before the United States and Mexico existed, native tribes lived on the land. The border splits the homelands of dozens of Native American nations. Tribes along the U.S.-Canada border face similar problems.
God’s instructions to the Israelites recognized the chaos and injustice that moving boundaries can cause. He told them, “You shall not move your neighbor’s landmark.” (Deuteronomy 19:14)
Pascua Yaqui officials drafted regulations to formalize the border-crossing process. The regulations require training local border agents on the tribe’s cultural heritage and traditions. A Yaqui interpreter would be available.
When family members, dancers, or musicians living in Sonora, Mexico, travel into the United States for ceremonies or family events, they are typically issued a tribal ID card. They also receive a visitor visa or permit from the U.S. government. Still, tribe members say many border officials lack the cultural awareness to process them without hang-ups.
In the last two years, Buelna says, he has made the round trip about 18 times and was detained four times. Border officials question the people he’s escorting—whose primary language is Yaqui—without an interpreter. They have confiscated cultural objects that hold significance to tribe members.
The U.S. Constitution recognizes Native American tribes as distinct governments. These tribes have the right to establish their own forms of government and enforce their own laws.
Native American nations should be able to determine their people’s ability to cross the border to preserve the ceremonial life of their communities, anthropology professor Christina Leza says. That’s an issue of sovereignty that recognized nations enjoy.
If approved, the Pascua Yaqui rules would be the first U.S. border crossing procedures specific to a tribe. They could then be used as a template by others to follow.
Why? Borders haven’t always been the same as they are now. Communities divided by borders face challenges.
