May 30, 2001
Ed Kisto
Kisto is depicted in the painting behind him showing him on his ranch and also showing a ghostly Indian rising from Baboquivari Peak, which is sacred to the Tohono O'odham. Kisto, a World War II veteran, recently was refused permission to travel abroad because he does not have a birth certificate or passport.
Photos by Jeffry Scott / Staff
Ed Kisto's ranch sprawls out from Fresnal Canyon, near Baboquivari Peak on Tohono O'odham land about 20 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. But he doesn't have documents to prove he was born here, so he's considered an illegal immigrant.
American citizen unable to document birth in the United States, subject to arrest, prosecution and deportation
A couple of years ago, I was invited to go to Italy and the Vatican by the family of Father Kino. I was real happy to be invited. I felt it was a real honor. Father Kino is a legend in our neck of the woods. I have a lot of respect for Father Kino and what he did for our people. My father said that Father Kino told the United States to leave us Papagos alone.
People in Caborca, south of the U.S.-Mexico boundary, organized the trip. Father Kino's family offered to pay for my expenses. I was all ready to go and they called and told me that they would not approve my trip because I did not have a birth certificate. I was told I could not get a United States passport. Five or six other people went. They were from Mexico and traveled with Mexican passports.
I was real disappointed. I was hurt. I thought my baptism and my discharge papers from the United States Navy would be enough. My baptism and my discharge papers were not enough, so I did not get to go. This really seemed strange to me, because they did not ask me for a birth certificate when I enlisted in the Navy right after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941. I enlisted right after the war broke out.
I served on a destroyer in the South Pacific. I was there when the United States dropped the atomic bomb. I was a seaman first class.
After the war I came home.
Home is Fresnal Canyon on the lands of of my nation, the Tohono O'odham Nation. I was born at home in Fresnal Canyon somewhere around 1925, give or take. My baptism says 1925, but I remember when the priest at San Xavier poured the holy water on my head. I was in a tub, so I must have been a little bit older because I remember that.
Over the years I have come and gone, but today I live at a ranch just two or three miles from the house where I was born.
My mother had three brothers and sisters, and they all lived in Fresnal Canyon. My dad was born in the traditional O'odham community of Quitovaca, south of the boundary. My father worked building the railroad and then he bought a wagon in Tucson and crossed back and forth selling groceries. My family would always travel back and forth across the boundary to Caborca and Quitovaca without any trouble. My mother was a good midwife, and she delivered many babies. That was our way.
I have done a lot in my lifetime. I went to war. I served on the Tohono O'odham Legislative Council for 20 years, the O'odham equivalent of your United States Congress, and I was a judge on the Tohono O'odham Court.
One thing I did not get to do was go to Italy, to the Vatican and to meet Father Kino's family. I am still disappointed. I am still hurt.
The Tohono O'odham were the first people here. We should have the right to go anywhere we want without a birth certificate. Our Tohono O'odham enrollment card should be enough.
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