Newly sworn-in Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva makes her views known during last Saturday’s ‘Rally for the Valley’ demonstration against the new border wall. Photo courtesy Border Coalition 
Rep. Adelita Grijalva (right) rallies demonstrators with her remarks. Photo by Robert Gay 
The wall build. Photo by Wayne Tomasi 
The new border wall is 30 feet tall. Photo by Carolyn Shafer 
Fisher Sand and Gravel have erected 1,000 feet of new wall since mid-September. Photo by Wayne Tomasi 
The border’s old fence, in the foreground, meets the new border wall. Photo by Robert Gay 
The ‘man camp’ of Fisher Sand and Gravel workers. Photo by Wayne Tomasi 
Three elders in prayer. Photo courtesy Tony Heath/Madrean Archipelago Wildlife Center 
An incense bowl is passed around. Photo by Robert Gay 
Rally goers look west during the opening prayer by Gabriel and Charlie Onehorse. Photo by Robert Gay 
Photo by Robert Gay 
Russ McSpadden of the Center for Biological Diversity delivers remarks. Photo by Robert Gay 
The barrier to the border wall’s construction site. Photo by Wayne Tomasi 
Mexican friend Rueben Peralta displays a banner given to him by a rally attendee on the American side of the border. Photo by Kate Scott
Roughly 130 people, including Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva and Pima County Supervisor Jennifer Allen, participated in a demonstration last Saturday expressing opposition to the federal government’s construction of a new 27-mile border wall across the San Rafael Valley.
Organized by Elgin activist Kate Scott, the “Rally for the Valley” was sited just west of the “man camp” and equipment yard established by government contractors Fisher Sand and Gravel near the US-Mexico border. Fisher workers have constructed about 1,000 feet of the 30-foot-tall steel barrier since beginning work on the $309 million project in mid-September. When completed, the wall will stretch from the Coronado monument to the west side of the Patagonia Mountains.
After opening prayers and ritual offerings by elders from the O’odham, Yaqui and Choctaw tribes, Congresswoman Grijalva, fresh from being sworn into her new office just 48 hours before in Washington, D.C., delivered impassioned remarks to the rally’s attendees.
“We’re here in San Rafael Valley— it’s beautiful. It’s pristine—or it was before Trump decided to build this completely unnecessary border wall,” she said. “Now it’s a construction site, and when you look around at how remote this location is, no people are crossing the border here. What does cross here are animals —wildlife—these are corridors for migration, and what is going to be devastated by the continued building up of this wall is that pathway.
“I stand with the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance, the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Tohono O’odham Nation, and the many groups and organizations here, and more importantly, the people of Santa Cruz County and San Rafael Valley, who call for a halt of this construction and this horrible wall.”
Russ McSpadden from the Center for Biological Diversity spoke next.
“All around us stretches the northernmost occupied habitat of jaguars and ocelots anywhere on Earth,” he said. “Let that all sink in: the near-impossible wildness of this place in the year 2025. These Sky Islands—connected by this valley—have held together human and wildlife communities for thousands of years… A wall like this is a deep and existential wound on the planet. And a wound in our hearts.”
Austin Nuñez, the Tohono O’odham Nation’s San Xavier district chairman, spoke about the absence of a border wall on the O’odham Nation.
“I am so grateful that over the last 60 years our leaders have made it known to Congress that we don’t want a wall,” he said. “I pray that this area will remain as is, so that the wildlife can migrate back and forth, [and] that our children are able to enjoy these natural wonders.”
There was no visible law enforcement or military presence during the rally. Fisher employees were also out of sight, and there were no counter demonstrators. It was so quiet that a band of musicians—called Other Nations Ensemble—paused midway during their piece called “Birds,” to suggest everyone listen to “the symphony which is already in place.”
About a dozen Mexican neighbors gathered on the south side of the wall. They had brought burritos to share across the iron rails of the vehicle barrier. Event organizer Kate Scott gifted Sonoran Rueben Peralta with one of the banners originally hung near the speakers’ tent. It read “Roam.”