Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Tohono O'odham woman found not guilty in border wall protest
A judge ruled that a Tohono O’odham woman is not guilty of criminal action in protesting border wall construction on her ancestral land, saying the prosecution imposed a substantial burden on the exercise of her religion.
In issuing the verdict Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Leslie Bowman reversed her previous ruling that Amber Ortega couldn’t use the Religious Freedom Restoration Act as her defense.
“This is our land, and our ways are not wrong,” said Ortega to a group of supporters and reporters outside the federal courthouse in Tucson. “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 was arrested and charged with the misdemeanors of interfering with agency function and violating a closure order, after refusing to leave a construction site on Sept. 9, 2020, in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, about 150 miles southwest of Tucson, where contractors were building more than 40 miles of 30-foot-tall steel border wall.
https://tucson.com/news/local/tohono-o-odham-woman-found-not-guilty-in-border-wall-protest/article_81984022-795d-11ec-bfc4-e342d102f2f0.html
