Land defender in Lochiel, Arizona subjected to extreme pain compliance, psychological abuse, and torture by Border Patrol and employees of Fisher Sand and Gravel.
Wednesday, October 7, 2026, (22:00 Arizona time)
Lochiel, Arizona - For the past six hours and counting, a protester in Tierra Libre has remained locked down to a construction vehicle owned and operated by Fisher Sand and Gravel, halting border wall construction.
Starting at approximately 5:30pm, and on three separate occasions, Fisher Sand and Gravel employees enveloped the protestor with a mylar emergency blanket and turned on the truck, deliberately filling the enclosure with exhaust and subjecting her to potentially deadly carbon monoxide poisoning. Border Patrol agents surrounded the truck, and refused to intervene, despite demands from land defenders holding protective presence.
Three hours later, Border Patrol began driving the truck east along the easement road that runs along the US-Mexico border with the protester still locked down to its exterior after zip tying her legs and suspending them in the machine. This action poses a grave threat to the locked-down protester's life and well-being. Land defenders on site, responding quickly to the situation, were able to stop agents from driving the truck after the vehicle advanced about a hundred feet along the easement road.
According to those present, Border Patrol agents told the protester that they planned to take her "to the middle of nowhere where no one can hear you scream." Throughout the afternoon and now into the evening, Border Patrol agents have used aggressive pain compliance in an attempt to get the locked down protester to relent, and have held guns to the protesters chest.
Patagonia Fire and Rescue responded to the scene of the lockdown after protesters called for emergency medical response. Upon arrival, the emergency medial workers were turned away by Border Patrol agents. When bystanders called 911 seeking emergency medical attention for the locked down protester, the callers were informed that emergency medical services would not be responding to the scene.
Border Patrol has repeatedly attacked the surrounding crowd with so-called "less-lethal munitions", including pepperballs and teargas, while on private land. Border Patrol Agents, with their faces and name badges covered, also continue to brandish rifles, carring the implicit threat that they may escalate the situation to lethal force at any time.
Two other people have been detained as part of this most recent escalation.
Border Patrol agents have unleashed three continuous days of brutality on land defenders in Lochiel. Border patrol and BORTAC have beaten, detained, arrested, and maced activists engaged in morning prayer. Some of these land defenders were kidnapped for over 24 hours and beaten and abused while in custody.
According to Adriana, one of the demonstrators, "We do not intend to back down. Our resolve only grows with their violence".
At the time of writing, a treesit on the Mexican side of the border is still active. Construction crews worked through the night Monday and Tuesday nights in an attempt to complete the secondary border wall that would cut the tree sitter off from material support from the US side of the border. This treesit, in the last remaining cottonwood tree standing on the borderline, has prevented work on the southern wall of the double wall system. US and Mexican forces are aware that construction endangers the life of the land defender high in the Abuela tree's branches, even as they push forward.
Land defenders insist they will continue dwelling in Tierra Libre of Lochiel AZ/La Noria MX. They are calling for all supporters and clergy to come to Lochiel AZ to help make space for prayer and grief for the Grandmother cottonwood tree killed on Tuesday, October 6th at 4 pm. "She was such a home for me," the tree sitter reflected, "I searched for even one leaf that did not have a hole from being eaten and never found one. She was her own ecosystem. She lived not only for all the creatures but to provide us with a way to defend all life in this region. We have to grieve but we need to honor her with action as well."
At the time of this release Border Patrol continues to abuse and brutalize protesters even as the land defenders refuse to back down.
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