Border Patrol agents arrested at least 20 activists in Lochiel, Ariz., on Oct. 5 before cutting down a 200-year-old cottonwood tree standing in the path of border wall construction, according to Lookout.
Ten were taken to the Sonoita Border Patrol station and 10 were cited and released, according to people at the scene.
Activists have been staging a sit-in to protect the tree, estimated to be more than 200 years old, since July. It was the last of four large cottonwoods in the wall’s path.
Immigration agents started cutting the tree while a protester was still in its branches, used a cherry picker to remove the person, then brought the tree down about 8:30 a.m. Screams can be heard in the video as the tree falls.
