Lochiel, Ariz. — Agents Topple 200-Year-Old Border Wall Tree

A 200-year-old cottonwood tree near the U.S.-Mexico border in Lochiel, Arizona, was pushed over by contractors on Monday after federal agents cleared a protest camp that had occupied the tree for more than 70 days, according to the Guardian. The tree, known locally as the "grandmother," stood in the path of construction for a section of wall ordered under President Trump's border policy.

Why were protesters occupying the tree?

Land defenders began a tree-sit in late July in the ghost town of Lochiel, taking turns stationed on a platform built high in the cottonwood's canopy, the Guardian reported. The occupation lasted more than 70 days, with protesters rotating shifts to keep a continuous presence in the tree, according to the outlet. Erick Meza, the Sierra Club's Borderlands coordinator, said he had spent months working to save the tree, including sending a series of letters to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

How did federal agents clear the site?

More than 80 federal agents moved in at dawn Monday, swarming the protesters' camp on private land, making arrests and blocking people from reaching the cottonwood, the Guardian reported, citing videos, photos and witness accounts. Agents in a steel basket attached to an extendable crane lift forcibly removed the person occupying the tree platform, according to footage shared on social media and described by people present. Witnesses told the Guardian that others were shoved and tackled as they tried to rush toward the tree to stop its destruction.

Who cut down the tree, and how?

Contractors with Fisher Sand & Gravel, the company building this section of the wall, used an excavator to push over the cottonwood after the camp was cleared, the Guardian reported. The tree cracked and crashed to the ground as land defenders who had gathered nearby shrieked, cried and yelled at the federal agents, according to the outlet.

"Seeing that — it crushes your heart," said Erick Meza, the Sierra Club's Borderlands coordinator who had worked for months to save the tree.

What did the tree mean to protesters?

Meza told the Guardian the cottonwood "brought a lot of people together" over the course of the standoff. The tree had drawn comparisons from some protesters to a symbol of resistance during the occupation, according to the outlet's coverage of the demonstration before Monday's clearing.

What happens next at the site?

The Guardian's reporting does not specify what, if any, legal consequences the arrests at the Lochiel camp will carry, or whether additional protests are planned along this stretch of the border. Construction of the wall section is proceeding with Fisher Sand & Gravel as the contractor, according to the outlet. CBP's response to the letters Meza said he sent over the preceding months was not detailed in available reporting.

The standoff adds to a string of confrontations between federal authorities and land defenders along the Arizona border as wall construction continues under the Trump administration, according to the Guardian's account of the Lochiel occupation and its end.