July 29, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Amendment to Homeland Security Act will steal rights from millions of
Americans.
A seemingly innocuous amendment to the Homeland Security Bill (S. 578) will
come before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee for hearings at 2: 00 p.m.
Wednesday, July 30th. It proposes to give Indians the same status as
states
when it comes to addressing homeland security issues on Indian lands. What
it actually could do is overturn 20 years of Supreme Court decisions
limiting and defining Indian sovereignty, and give dominant tribal groups
the power to impose whatever form of government, constitution or tribal
judicial system they wish over hundreds-of-thousands of non-Indians who live
in "Indian Country." In fact, tribal jurisdiction would extend
to millions
outside the boundaries of a reservation under one section of the bill, if a
person had "sufficient contacts with the land or a member of the Indian
tribal government to allow them to be brought into tribal court."
As one Montana attorney has put it, "It is fuzzy enough for some to delude
themselves that it does little more than the law now provides, but that is
not its purpose. And if this language passes, to thwart extensions of
tribal jurisdiction beyond what the Supreme Court has fairly-clearly laid
out may be impossible."
Only 480,000 Indians live on reservations, but 3.3 million non-Indians live
in areas that are classified as some type of "Indian Country" by the
2000
census. In fact, there are 33 reservations where at least 80% of the
residents are non-Indian. Most of these non-Indians are descendants of
homesteaders who moved into these areas when they were opened to
homesteading from 1887 to 1934. They hold title to their land, and are
entitled to the constitutional protections of a Republican form of
government, due process in courts and the protection of the basic liberties
of speech, assembly, press and property. The guarantee of these rights is
impossible where tribal leaders hold executive, legislative and judicial
powers. Participation in tribal government is limited to Indians whose
parents were tribal members, so non-Indians could not vote or participate in
the government that makes, judges and enforces the laws, or taxes businesses
and property. As one South Dakota rancher has put it, it is "a
breathtaking
example of racial tyranny."
Senator Inouye, co-author of the bill, has stated that the goal of this
legislation is to overturn Supreme Court rulings that non-tribal members are
not subject to the taxing authority, the civil and criminal laws and the
courts created by tribal governments. He has also said that..."tribal
governments should be as sovereign as any state in the Union," and
that
this amendment "allows the tribes to exercise as much authority as they
choose." How does America feel about adding 550 more tribal states
not
subject to the Constitution? This week's hearings may tell.
CERA's testimony to the Committee on S. 578 and it's similar companion bill
in the U. S. House, H.R. 2242 (which has 29 sponsors), is available in the
"Fact Sheets" section of the Citizens Equal Rights Alliance (CERA)
website
at: www.citizensalliance.org.