Water Wars & ICE Raids: Immigrant & Environmental Justice

Water is Life. It constitutes over 71% of Earth, our common Home, and over 60% of the human body. "Mni Wičoni. Water is Life for everything!" (Sara Thomsen, "Water is Life") Since all life in the biosphere depends upon Water, is access to potable Water a right? Is it a right for all humanity? What about those dispossessed of clean water, those on the margins like IPLCs and immigrants? Is access to clean Water a right for more-than-human kin who require Water for survival?

Many know the violent history of the early 20th c. Los Angeles "Water Wars" when the desperate Owens Valley farmers and ranchers protested with vitriol and dynamite as their lakes and irrigation canals dried up in order to divert plentiful mountain water to a thirsty L.A. The "hero" of the L.A. "Water Wars," Water Superintendent William Mulholland, was considered a villain by Owens Valley farmers and ranchers as he doggedly pursued the purchase of water and land rights in the Sierra Nevadas to transport water 250 miles away to a parched L.A. Mulholland became famous for launching the building of the L.A. Aqueduct. Completed in 1913, the architectural wonder featured L.A.'s water infrastructure that yielded 50% more water for a drought-weary metro, and was meant to provide water to the area for over a century. Sadly, the "Water Wars" fought with farmers and ranchers sprang from an earlier rampage, deluge, and desecration - the thievery, violent overwhelming, and ultimate ousting of Native Americans known as the Northern Paiute, the indigenous Nüümü people.

"The valley was once home to a wide river and a massive, 110-square-mile lake—all of it fed by seasonal snowmelt from the white-capped Sierra Nevadas. For centuries, the Paiute fished the waters and raised native crops in the valley using an intricate system of hand-dug canals.

When white settlers arrived in the 1800s, they called Owens Valley the 'American Switzerland' for its verdant valley floor ringed by towering mountains. Ranchers and farmers seized tribal lands and used federal laws to lay claim to the water rights. The Paiute fought back, clashing with settlers in the 1860s. But with the help of the U.S. Cavalry, the settlers not only defeated the Paiute, but drove them off their ancestral lands.

With the 'Indian problem' solved, Owens Valley became a prosperous agricultural community. Following the pattern of the Paiute’s hand-dig ditches, the settlers built an expansive canal and irrigation system. According to federal law, each landowner in the valley held water rights that were carefully managed and protected." (Dave Roos, The California Water Wars: How L.A. Got Its Water Supply)

"Landowners who hold Water rights" begs the question. Who owns the Water in the first place? Who owns the rights to the Water? In the case of Owens Valley, was it the Nüümü people who originally inhabited the land? Or settlers who took it by force? Or later Owens Valley farmers and ranchers? Or, eventually, the City of L.A.? Native claims to the Water were trampled and dismissed, negated by settlers, and backed by the U.S. Cavalry. (Rationale: Might makes right.) Owens Valley farmers and ranchers' rights were "bought" and "sold" to L.A. to build the Aqueduct. (Premise: Water is for those who can afford it.) Lesson? If military force drives out the indigenous, "problem" solved. If money buys the land rights and riparian rights to build the Aqueduct, done deal. Where ethics meets legality, the moral compass seems to be lost.

For exponents of environmental justice, restricted access to Water for the wealthy or the heavily armed who can take it by force is not just or ethical. It's an ethical travesty. This is not even considering the Rights of Nature, and access to clean water for all Earth's denizens.

Who owns the Water? In many Native American traditions, no one owns the Water. Water is sacred, a life-sustaining force within creation, worthy of reverence and protection, but not a commodity for sale. That is a modern, Western concept born of market capitalism, where Nature is considered a capitalist commodity. Water can be bought and sold to the highest bidder, exploited as a resource in a cutthroat supply-and-demand market. The poor and the powerless have no access.

"Owning" Water is a many-tentacled hydra, extending from absolute dominion and regulated riparian rights to reasonable use and correlative rights. Having access to Water is where the wars have been fought. Water rights is a fairly ancient concept that traditionally favors the wealthy. Roman Law provided riparian (river) rights attached to land ownership. "Aqua profluens" (running water) rights have been regulated by governments and usually favor land-owning (wealthy) gentry in legal precedent. Private ownership and riparian rights are most contested in courts of law. But what about public access? In the United States, public access to Water is guaranteed under the "Clean Water Act" of 1972. The United Nations codified that humans have basic rights to water and sanitation in 2010. But the Water Wars have only just begun as climate change means a warming globe, droughts, floods, more frequent severe storms, and rising sea levels. The poor and marginalized are most adversely affected by climate crises, and this is where Equitable Access is key.

The precepts of environmental justice guarantee equitable access to Earth's goods for all people, and equitable protection from Earth's degradation. Access to potable Water is viewed as a fundamental human right.

What role does Water play in weaponizing injustice today? Recent news of L.A. protests of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) presence has sparked outrage as the National Guard was sent to "quell" the mostly peaceful protests. Is there a connection between the Water Wars of the last two centuries and immigration justice today? Yes. "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

This is the linchpin of contention binding immigrant justice and environmental justice: Equitable Access.

As L.A. protesters voice solidarity with immigrants and asylum-seekers denied access to legal pathways to citizenship, the current administration is offering $5M "Gold Card Visas" to the wealthy. While immigrants and asylum-seekers comprise a considerable contingent (nearly 20%) of the U.S. workforce, they continue to earn less per week than their native-born counterparts, according to 2024 U.S. labor statistics. Protesters are defending their rights in the face of traumatizing ICE raids, while immigrants are hunted, trafficked, criminalized, and denied due process, unjustly imprisoned and sent to (sometimes undisclosed) detention centers notorious for human rights abuses. Without hope for an affordable, legal pathway to citizenship, undocumented immigrants live in constant fear for safety for themselves and their families, lacking food security, healthcare, education, and housing, suffering wage and benefits inequities besides dehumanizing inhospitality and abuse. It's about Equitable Access.

"Water Wars" are not over. Water Wars are an icon of the pernicious effects of entrenched injustice, and all causes of justice are one and the same. It's about equitable access to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Water Wars and Ice raids. Oh, my.