Mike Wilson

Tohono O’odham Activist

Tucson, AZ

November 5, 2024

In a small classroom at Quincy Douglas Library in Tucson, Arizona, we talked to Mike who welcomed us warmly.

Michael "Mike" Wilson is a Tohono O’odham human rights activist who placed water for undocumented migrants on Tohono O’odham tribal land for 12 years, starting in early 2002. The deadliest immigration pathway to America is located along tribal territory, and Tribal police estimate that at least 1500 people come into tribal lands from Mexico daily, with most dying in the process. He aided immigrants by putting out water jugs on migrant trails but experienced heavy resistance from border patrol, tribal government, and the church, was threatened with banishment from the Tribe, and being put on a terrorist watch list.

He shared his experience in the Army as a special forces military advisor in El Salvador, and explained the story of the “dark side of Mike Wilson,” a story from working to stop El Salvadorans from immigrating to America, to aiding undocumented migrants crossing the border. Mike shows his transformation like a play, using water bottles and his hand to visualize the details of the day while explaining his thoughts in the head at the moment, shivering his voice towards the end. It was extremely powerful, one that had us questioning what is justice and “What Side Are You On?” Most of the problems are not black and white but 99.99% are gray, and in those gray, there are different shades of gray like light gray, dark gray, misty gray, says Mike.

Mike also talked to us about how the tribal government sovereignty on the reservation is a myth. Border Patrol agents by the hundreds are on tribal lands all along the border. Border Patrol is a federal law enforcement agency with primary law enforcement jurisdiction on all federal lands, including reservations. Moreover, because Congress approves reservation, sovereignty and money, the Tribes do not want to risk losing its right by not allowing border patrol agents. Mike expresses anger as he tells us the long history of harassment, intimidation, and imprisonment of tribal members, including the night of May 18, 2023, a mile away from the US-Mexican border, when a tribal member was shot and killed in front of his house and family by nine Border Patrol agents.

We ended our conversation buying Mike’s book “What Side Are You On?” which explains most of the issues we talked to in detail through Mike's perspective from his personal stories.

by Ayano Yoshikawa