[3][4][5] In 1882, President Chester A. Arthur signed an executive order creating the Gila Bend Indian Reservation as additional lands for the Tohono Oʼodham people.

Flood waters impounded by the dam periodically inundated approximately 10,000 acres (40 km2) of the Gila Bend Indian Reservation.

The city of Glendale and the Gila River Indian Community opposed attempts to develop the land though court challenges and supporting a measure passed by the Arizona House of Representatives that would allow the city of Glendale to incorporate land the tribe owned, making it ineligible for inclusion within the reservation.

[8][9] As of March 2014[update], after a change of heart, the City of Glendale has been negotiating with the Nation over its proposed West Valley casino.

[10] The McCain-Franks bill was designed to prohibit the Glendale project and in the process would have changed federal law by unilaterally repealing critical parts of the Gila Bend Indian Reservation Lands Replacement Act, which was passed to settle a dispute over federal flooding of tribal reservation lands.

[18] The lands of the Nation are in the Sonoran Desert in south central Arizona, in areas of a series of parallel mountains and valleys.

[19] Saguaro cactus, Cholla, prickly pear, palo verde, velvet mesquite, whitethorn acacia, desert ironwood, and willow are the dominant vegetation in the landscape.

Throughout this time, tribal members traveled and migrated to work, participate in religious ceremonies, keep medical appointments in Sells, and visit relatives.

The Oʼodham were deliberate in attending their religious festivals, and left their employers for two to four weeks to travel to Magdalena, Sonora.

The pre-contact legacy and economic lifestyles of the Oʼodham gave them a "transnational identity", but Indigenous conflicts on the Mexico–United States barrier arose.

During WWI concerns were raised about the proximity of the Oʼodham to the border, but the U.S. government ignored requests for additional military presence, and trans-border smuggling thrived in the 1910s and 1920s.

[25]: 141  Notions of isolation were further intensified during WWII as the U.S.–Mexico border was militarized to protect against potential invasions via the Sea of Cortez, and tribal lands in Sonora were privatized to increase government production.

[29][30] In 1977 the Los Angeles Times reported that Mexican Oʼodham were taking advantage of medical facilities and welfare checks on the Arizona side of the border.

In the 1980s, Oʼodham in Sonora responded to decades of land theft and bureaucratic failure by staging an occupation at the "weak and underfunded" National Indian Institute offices.

[25]: 160 The Oʼodham saw a subsequent rise in illegal crossing and smuggling through tribal lands as the surrounding security increased.

In the hearing tribal leaders and law enforcement officers testified about "incidents of cross-border violence, and even incursions by Mexican military personnel in support of drug smugglers.

[25] Since then, bills have repeatedly been introduced in Congress to solve the "one people-two country" problem by granting U.S. citizenship to all enrolled members of the Tohono Oʼodham, but so far they have not passed.

[24]: 166  Many of the thousands of Mexican and other nationals illegally crossing the border to work in U.S. agriculture or to smuggle drugs into the U.S. seek emergency assistance from the Tohono Oʼodham police when they become dehydrated or are stranded.

The tribe and the state of Arizona pay a large proportion of the bills for border-related law enforcement and emergency services.

[36] Citing the impact it would have on wildlife and on the tribe's members, Tohono Oʼodham tribal leaders made a series of official statements opposing President Donald Trump's plan to build a wall along the U.S.–Mexico border.

[37][38] While the 1986 Tohono Oʼodham constitution gives the tribe sovereignty over their territory, this is nonetheless subject to the plenary power of Congress.

The competition for a $145 million contract lasted between major defense contractors such as General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon.

These machines were intended to serve the same purpose as the towers, while also allowing Border Patrol agents to observe information from a common operational picture.

Although the towers would benefit Border Patrol in controlling illegal activities, for the Tohono Oʼodham nation, the integration of these structures will result in further territorial disputes and invasion of privacy.

Tribes such as the Tohono Oʼodham are no longer free to cross the border to visit their families or explore outside their homes without risking scrutiny by agents.

[45] Even with set boundaries and size guidelines for the towers, the IFTs have exceeded the established range and are beginning to occupy parts of Oʼodham territory.

[5][4] The tribe operates the Tohono Oʼodham Utility Authority, a tribal firm established in 1970 to provide electric and water service to the reservation.