Armed Raid Destroys “Grandmother” Cottonwood in Arizona

The tree sits in the remote San Rafael Valley, a recognized wildlife migration corridor that has seen little human crossing. It was the last of four ancient cottonwoods on the U.S. side slated for removal to make way for two parallel, 30-foot-high border walls. Earlier this year, three other “grandmother” trees on the Arizona side had already been cut down. The protest camp in Lochiel, Arizona, and neighboring Sonora, Mexico, grew out of a year-long effort by activists to protect the land and its ecology. A recent district-court injunction in Big Bend, Texas, halted wall construction there while a lawsuit proceeds, underscoring the broader legal challenges to the wall program.

The Intercept

Belicia Lynch, a member of the De La Ossa family that owns the private property where the encampment sits, issued a statement thanking protesters for defending the tree and the habitat it supports. The Department of Homeland Security and Border Patrol have not responded to inquiries about the raid. A U.S. district judge, in granting the Big Bend injunction, wrote that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on at least one claim, signaling potential judicial scrutiny of the wall’s legality.

The Intercept

• Tree age: approximately 200 years.

The Intercept

• Agents involved: about 150, many masked.

The Intercept

• Arrests: at least 10 demonstrators.

The Intercept

• Duration of occupation before the raid: more than 70 days.

The Intercept

• Remaining ancient cottonwoods on the Arizona side before the raid: one (the felled “grandmother”).

The Intercept

• Planned wall dimensions: two parallel walls, each 30 feet high, extending for miles through the valley.

The Intercept

“I just want to thank you guys for being out there to not only protect the grandmother tree, but the land itself that many animals and bugs inhabit,” — Belicia Lynch

The Intercept