Trump Border Wall Construction Damages 1,000-Year-Old Native Intaglio in Arizona

Construction crews building President Trump's border wall have damaged a portion of the Las Playas Intaglio, a 1,000-year-old Native American etching in Arizona's Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. Approximately 60 to 70 feet of the 272-foot-long fish-shaped design, a sacred site for the Tohono O'odham Nation, was destroyed by heavy machinery on April 23, 2026. The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed the incident, stating that Commissioner Rodney Scott is engaging with tribal leadership. The damage occurred after Trump declared a national emergency at the border, bypassing environmental reviews. Preservation archaeologist Aaron Wright, who had visited the site weeks earlier, noted that the intaglio is one of many sacred sites threatened by the administration's rapid wall expansion, which aims to lay three miles of new barrier daily. This is not the first such incident; during Trump's first term, contractors also damaged a Hohokam burial ground nearby. The Tohono O'odham Nation has long opposed the construction, which now also threatens Quitobaquito Springs in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.