Indigenous woman acquitted for protest of border wall construction on tribal land

A Tohono O'odham woman was found not guilty of misdemeanor charges for protesting border wall construction on her ancestral land, the Arizona Daily Star reports.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Leslie Bowman ruled that the charges imposed a substantial burden on the exercise of Ortega's religion, in a reversal of her previous ruling against Ortega.

Bowman had previously ruled that Ortega could not use the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in her defense.

"This is our land, and our ways are not wrong," Ortega said to supporters after the verdict. "We, today, again defended our culture, our ways, our songs, our locations, our mountains, our sacred sites. Today was a victory for our people."

Ortega protested a border wall construction site at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in September and was charged with interfering with agency function and violating a closure order.

Ortega had been praying nearby at Quitobaquito Springs, a sacred ancient O'odham watering hole, when she heard construction begin and decided to protest.

Amy Knight, Ortega's defense attorney, argued that defense of sacred land near the springs was part of Ortega's religious practice.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Vincent J. Sottosanti rejected a defense based on religious freedom in both trials, saying that the federal government has the legal right to "modify, improve or use its own land however it sees fit."

Sottosanti claimed in the second trial: "There aren't any new facts. There's no new evidence. There's no new law.

"She went in as a girl and came out a woman, fighting for all of our rights, for religion," Tohono O'odham member Mary Garcia told a crowd after the trial. "Please understand, we're still here. And this is what it takes to let them know we love our culture. We love our language. We love our religion."