It wasn't that long ago that we had "forest defenders" out in the Atlanta suburbs vowing that "cop city" would never be built. They engaged in a months-long campaign of threats, vandalism, arson, and in one case even shot a police officer before they were finally cleared out.
Something similar has been happening in a tiny corner of Arizona near the border for the past several months. A group of activists decided to set up a tent city to object to the construction of a section of border wall in Lochiel, AZ. Like the Atlanta protesters, the official reason for the protest was the removal of some trees, but the real reason was to block the construction of a double border wall.
Kate Scott, co-founder of Madrean Archipelago Wildlife Center, was the first to notice contractors were cutting down the cottonwoods this summer. After speaking to a worker in June, and learning their plans to cut down all the trees, she gathered support and started sitting out near the tree. Eventually, with the support of Indigenous activists, the protesters in Lochiel started a morning prayer ritual. Every morning the group would hold a sunrise prayer for the land, Scott said. It was during that prayer ceremony that Border Patrol agents raided the camp on Monday...
On Sept. 14, three protesters wearing bird and jaguar costumes, representing the endangered species in the area, were arrested after entering the construction site.Those arrests encouraged more people from across the country to join the camp, Scott said.
In late September, dozens of tents were scattered along the tall grass inside private property. A group of people were learning to safely climb rope to get onto the wooden plank in the grandmother tree.
The "grandmother" tree is just a big tree along the path of the construction. The activists had created a perch in the tree and were doing a sit-in there for weeks. Today, authorities showed up, arrested 10 to 12 protesters and took the tree down.
The group of protestors, who have held a "tree sit" since late July near the small Arizona hamlet of Lochiel to protect the cottonwood from demolition during border wall construction, said it fell around 8:30 a.m. By 10 a.m., they said, agents arrested 10 people.
Video of the scene:
Once the protesters were out of the way, including one sitting in the tree, heavy machinery came in and removed the tree.
Protestors speaking amid the raid on Monday morning say they were heartbroken as they saw agents pull one person sitting in what they dubbed the " grandmother tree" into a cherry picker owned by United Rentals and arrest them before excavating the cottonwood, estimated to be around two centuries old...
The group spent more than 70 days at the site in an effort to preserve the tree and block construction of a double-layer border wall stretching 27 miles through the San Rafael Valley. Construction is part of a $334 million contract under Customs and Border Protection.
This led to a huge outburst from the protesters who were watching from nearby. This is the sound of performative progressives losing another battle. Be aware there's some NSFW language in this clip.
I guess it was too much for them to show the tree actually coming down. Fortunately they weren't the only people there with cameras. TPUSA did a whole report from the scene.
SHOWDOWN AT THE BORDER: A scene akin to "CHAZ / CHOP" unfolded on the southern border in Lochiel, AZ. Dozens of activists faced Border Patrol at a protest encampment after contractors felled a cottonwood roughly 250 years old—one of the trees locals call the “Grandmother”—to continue border-wall construction. Since July 27th, they've occupied a cottonwood tree to shut down construction of the double border wall. While reporting on the operation, Frontlines manager @BrandonDrey was assaulted by multiple left-wing activists, who broke his Meta glasses. When our team returned to the car for first aid, two of our tires had been slashed. Activists have openly mocked and boasted about the slashing while threatening Frontlines staff. Multiple arrests have been made, and the situation is still developing. Stay tuned for on-the-ground updates. @TaylerUSA | @TPUSA
— FRONTLINES TPUSA (@FrontlinesTPUSA) October 5, 2026
The screaming, as you may have noticed, is a thing on the Left.
🚨 NOW: Liberal women have gathered in an NYC park to collectively “SCREAM IN RAGE” during an International Women’s Day protest If they think this is going to further “women’s rights” or whatever, these people have some real brain damage Unhinged https://t.co/m6q494Lyg8
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) March 8, 2026
It has been happening since at least 2017:
When your politics boils down to throwing a tantrum because you didn't get your way, you need to grow up.
With that out of the way, let's build the wall, just like we build "cop city" in Atlanta.
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