Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

October 29, 2026

Live Flight: US Drone Surveillance over Tohono O'odham Nation and Southern Border

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Oct. 29, 2026

LIVE FLIGHT Thursday at 6 am: This drone is now quickly going back and forth over the Tohono O'odham Nation and southern border. It comes after a day of disturbing helicopter surveillance by the army and US Border Patrol out of Tucson circling above the area of the prayer camp near San Miguel Gate on the Tohono O'odham Nation.

The drone above the border now shows multiple trips to Australia, which may be an error due to the false identification being used. It is shown as a helicopter, and its ID actually is for a small plane. The FAA registration says the aircraft has multiple entries and is "reserved" by a Florida owner and is not active. This is one of the surveillance drones that usually departs from the Army's Fort Huachuca in southern Arizona. This one is shown departing from Calexico.

The US military says the drones are searching for "enemy drones" of the Mexican cartels and it shoots them down with directed energy lasers. However, it accidentally shot down a US Border Patrol drone and party balloon, resulting in the FAA shutting down the airspace over El Paso twice.


Previous article on Wednesday

Tohono O'odham Nation Under Surveillance:
The U.S. Out of Control


by Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Oct. 28, 2026

LIVE FLIGHT: This US Border Patrol helicopter is circling in surveillance above the Tohono O'odham Nation, between Sells and the San Miguel Gate at the border. Now, local time is 3:30 pm, on Wednesday. O'odham report two semi trucks loaded with border wall panels were sneaking through a remote area of tribal land at 10:25 pm on Monday night.

During the National Congress of American Indians annual convention last week, NCAI passed a resolution opposing the border wall and the intrusion onto the sovereign Tohono O'odham Nation, pointing out the violations of duties and federal laws that the U.S. is violating. Federal laws protecting burial places and eagles are among the laws being violated.

NCAI's resolution states that BIA police failed in their duties when BIA police escorted in border wall contractors on the Nation, who immediately began drilling in August. US Border Patrol special ops BORTAC were in the gang of masked and armed federal agents who took control of the Tohono O'odham Nation at the border. They prevented tribal police from entering their own sovereign nation to issue citations and remove construction crews.

Here in the Sonoran Desert, the US plans to drill water wells, and take over tribal land for construction sites while building the double wall. The US Homeland Security and US Border Patrol ignored a federal judge's order to consult and coordinate with the tribe before proceeding.

The US plans to destroy 2,000 of the protected Saguaro here before it begins building the wall on Dec. 1, 2026, the Tohono O'odham Nation said.



This army helicopter out of Tucson circled over the Tohono O'odham Nation, near San Miguel Gate, south of the capitol of Sells, this afternoon around 2 pm. and is now returning to Tucson. A US Border Patrol helicopter is now there.

Border Patrol agents said earlier that the prayer camp at San Miguel Gate would be removed and our people there could be “manhandled," the tribe said.

Reporter John Carlos Frey said that Border Patrol stormed the Tohono O’odham prayer camp with rifles raised while families slept inside during October.

While Homeland Security says it has a right to build the wall 60 feet from the border, the tribe said it knows the destruction of building the double border wall will extend further and destroy mountains and peaks.

The Court of Appeals in Washington will rule soon on an emergency order to stop Homeland Security, the Tohono O'odham Legislative Council said.

Read more at Censored News:

Alert: Trucks with Border Wall Panels on the Tohono O'odham Nation
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/10/alert-trucks-with-border-wall-panels-on.html

National Congress of American Indians, NCAI, Battles Border Wall
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/10/ncai-battles-border-wall-tohono-oodham.html

The US Threatens Destruction of San Miguel Camp
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/10/the-tohono-oodham-nation-us-threatens.html

Copyright Brenda Norrell, Censored News

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