LA POSTA BAND OF DIEGUEÑO MISSION INDIANS V. TRUMP: ACKNOWLEDGING AND ADDRESSING THE HARM TO KUMEYAAY TRIBES FOR DESTRUCTION OF THEIR HOMELANDS FROM THE BORDER WALL PROJECT

By Michelle LaPena and Simon Gertler*

Since time immemorial, the Kumeyaay people have inhabited the area that the present border between California in the United States, and Baja California in Mexico, dissects. Since the arrival of Europeans in the region, the Kumeyaay territory, culture, religion, and very existence have been under threat to make way for the colonial project. In the most recent episode of indigenous erasure, the President of the United States now attempts to excavate Kumeyaay burials and destroy Kumeyaay sacred sites to make way for a wall along the southern border. The Kumeyaay people bring this complaint to stop this project for which the President lacks legal authority, and which violates statutory and constitutional rights of the Kumeyaay people.

(Complaint, La Posta Band of Diegueño Mission Indians of the La Posta Rsrv. v. Trump, et al., No. 320CV01552AJBMSB, 1 (S.D. Cal. Aug. 11, 2021))

I. INTRODUCTION