For one Native American tribe whose land straddles the U.S.-Mexico border, President Trump’s proposed border wall would, literally, divide its people.

The Tohono O'odham Nation stretches through the desert from just south of Casa Grande in southern Arizona to the U.S. border — and then beyond, into the Mexican state of Sonora. This means that if Trump gets his $5.7 billion border wall, it would cut right through the tribe’s land.

“It would be as if I walked into your home and felt like your home was not safe, but I want to build a wall right smack in the middle of your home and let me divide your family,” Verlon Jose, vice chairman of the Tohono O'odham Nation, tells NPR’s David Greene. “It is putting a blockage into our way of life, into things that we’ve been doing for hundreds and hundreds of years. And when you interrupt those things, bad things happen.”

Native American Leader: ‘A Border Wall Is Not The Answer’

Photo: Claire Harbage/NPR