“Under Occupation”: A Discussion with Amy Juan of the Tohono O’odham Nation

Tohono O’odham cultural activist Amy Juan discusses the US-Mexico border from the perspective of people who were here long before it existed.

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Border Militarization
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September 16, 2021
With today’s post, we inaugurate our first audio Q&A. The Border Chronicle is excited to launch into an audio series of in depth interviews with compelling borderlanders, like today’s guest Amy Juan of the Tohono O’odham Nation. Amy works for the International Indian Treaty Council and is a longtime cultural activist who grew up on the border in the town of Newfield on the Nation. In the 19th century, the United States imposed its southern boundary with no consultation of the O’odham people. The Nation, located in Southern Arizona, is the size of Connecticut, but traditional O’odham lands reach deep into Mexico.

Amy, who was born in the 1980s, says she comes from the last generation to experience freedom of movement before the Border Patrol occupied their land. The Border Patrol increased its presence particularly after 9/11, when it put up checkpoints on every paved road leaving the Nation, installed Forward Operating Bases (modeled after bases used in US military operations in places like Iraq and Afghanistan), and erected surveillance towers. And as Amy mentions in the interview, in 2017 she took a trip to Israel/Palestine to learn more about where these surveillance towers were first created and tested, before being installed in her own community.

We’re excited to dive into our first audio interview and the rich history of the US-Mexico borderlands in the voices of the people who live here. Also, soon Melissa and I (Todd) will have a discussion about The Border Chronicle, why we created it, and why border journalism is vital. I also hope that today’s enriching conversation with Amy outshines any of the minor technical guffaws that are all my fault. Consider any guffaw just part of the learning process.  And major thanks to Lilly Clark, our wonderful audio editor, for helping me edit and finesse the production side, and edit out the guffaws.

I’ve known Amy Juan for nearly a decade, initially because of her activism fighting Border Patrol abuses and surveillance, and since then I have come to know her as an educator and, dare I say, a visionary. Please enjoy and please consider subscribing to The Border Chronicle.

 
Author
Todd Miller

Todd Miller is Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of The Border Chronicle. He is the author of four books that examine border militarization and its externalization, surveillance technology and industry, climate change, and the search for alternatives. His books include Build Bridges, Not Walls: A Journey to a World Without Borders (City Lights, 2021) Empire of Borders: The Expansion of the U.S. Border Around the World (Verso, 2019),  Storming the Wall: Climate Change, Migration, and Homeland Security (City Lights, 2017), and Border Patrol Nation: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Homeland Security (City Lights, 2014).

Todd’s forthcoming book is a deep examination of water as a border issue in an age of climate-induced heat waves and drought. It will be published by Seven Stories Press in 2027.

Besides The Border Chronicle, articles by Todd have appeared in the New York Times, The Nation, San Francisco Chronicle, In These Times, Guernica, TomDispatch, and Al Jazeera English, among other places. He has also authored and co-authored reports on border surveillance, the border industrial complex, and climate change for the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute, where he is a fellow.

Todd’s book Storming the Wall received the Izzy Award in 2018 for “path-breaking and in-depth reporting.” He also received first place in “Community immigration reporting” by the Arizona Press Club in 2013. Todd has a bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies and Journalism from Prescott College, where he is also an adjunct professor.

In his spare time, Todd likes to travel, read, philosophize, and hang out with his two kids—whether it be going to a dance recital or being a basketball coach.

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