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Tribe: Interior officials say decision expected on land in trust by Sept. 21
By Tanner Stening
Posted Aug 27, 2018
MASHPEE — Officials with the U.S Department of Interior have told attorneys for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe that there will be a decision by Sep. 21 on whether the agency will be able to keep the tribe’s reservation in trust, according to a statement issued Monday by the tribe.
The tribe has been battling to solidify a 2015 decision by the Interior Department to take 321 acres of land in Mashpee and Taunton into trust after a lawsuit brought by would-be neighbors of the tribe’s $1 billion casino project in Taunton prompted a judge to remand the finding to the agency.
Interior officials have been reviewing whether they can secure the land in trust under a different legal category after U.S District Court Judge William Young adhered to Carcieri v. Salazar, a Supreme Court ruling which requires that tribes seeking land into trust must have been under federal jurisdiction in 1934 when the Indian Reorganization Act was signed into law.
Since Young’s 2016 ruling, the agency has been considering whether Massachusetts had exercised authority over the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in a manner that could be viewed as a surrogate for the federal jurisdiction requirement under the Indian Reorganization Act.
In a statement, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell said the tribe has submitted “mounds of evidence” to show that it was under federal jurisdiction before 1934.
“We remain hopeful the Department of Interior will do the right thing and reaffirm our trust lands,” he said.
The tribe argued in its 2012 submission to the Interior - when it initially sought to have its land taken into trust - that its Mashpee land, which it occupied for centuries, amounted to a reservation for the purposes of the the act’s second definition of “Indian.”
Having gained federal recognition in 2007, roughly 32 years after it first petitioned for the status, the tribe has said archeological evidence suggests it ancestral roots in the region date back 12,000 years.
News of the impending decision comes after the Interior Department chose to take no position during a congressional hearing on June 24 on a bill that would secure the tribe’s reservation despite prepared statements that it was prepared to back the effort.
The bill was introduced earlier this year by U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass.; a twin bill has been introduced in the Senate. The legislation would affirm Interior’s 2015 decision, effectively ending a legal challenge that threatens the reservation and barring future challenges in federal court.
Keating and others previously said the legislation was a response to fears that the Interior Department was considering taking the land out of trust.
Darryl LaCounte, acting director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, testified before the House Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs during the June hearing, saying the agency was not prepared to take a position, but that he will “encourage” speeding up his department’s review of the status of the tribe’s land.
http://www.capecodtimes.com/news11/20180827/tribe-interior-officials-say-decision-expected-on-land-in-trust-by-sept-21
Decision on Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s land expected next month
By Tanner SteningPosted Aug 27, 2018
MASHPEE — The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is less than 30 days away from learning whether the Trump administration will reaffirm the tribe’s right to reservation lands.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Interior have said there will be a decision by Sept. 21 on whether the agency will be able to keep the tribe’s 321 acres of land in Mashpee and Taunton in trust, according to a statement issued Monday by the tribe and an attorney for opponents of the tribe’s planned $1 billion casino.
The tribe has been battling to solidify a 2015 decision by the Interior Department to take the land into trust after a lawsuit brought by would-be neighbors of the tribe’s $1 billion casino project in Taunton prompted a judge to remand the finding to the agency.
Interior officials have been reviewing whether they can secure the land in trust under a different legal category for “Indian” after U.S District Court Judge William Young adhered to Carcieri v. Salazar, a Supreme Court ruling that requires that tribes seeking land into trust must have been under federal jurisdiction in 1934 when the Indian Reorganization Act was signed into law.
Nedra Darling, a spokeswoman for the Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs, did not respond to a message requesting comment.
Since Young’s 2016 ruling, the agency has been considering whether Massachusetts had exercised authority over the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in a manner that could be viewed as a surrogate for the federal jurisdiction requirement under the Indian Reorganization Act, according to a June 30, 2017, letter by the Interior’s Associate Deputy Secretary James Cason.
The Interior Department filed a notice of appeal challenging Young’s decision but ultimately moved to dismiss its own appeal in April 2017.
In the tribe’s statement Monday, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell said the tribe has submitted “mounds of evidence” to show that it was under federal jurisdiction before 1934.
“We remain hopeful the Department of Interior will do the right thing and reaffirm our trust lands,” he said.
Unless “back-room politics comes into play, an objective analysis of the evidence should result in a positive finding,” Cromwell said.
The tribe argued in its 2012 submission to the Interior — when it initially sought to have its land taken into trust — that its Mashpee land, which it occupied for centuries, amounted to a reservation for the purposes of the Indian Reorganization Act’s second definition of “Indian.”
Having gained federal recognition in 2007, roughly 32 years after it first petitioned for the status, the tribe has said archeological evidence suggests it can trace its ancestral roots in the region back at least 12,000 years.
But in a June 19, 2017, draft decision on the reconsideration of the land in trust finding, Cason wrote that the framework the agency used to determine whether a tribe is under federal jurisdiction yielded little evidence to demonstrate that the U.S. “had, at or before 1934, taken an action or series of actions that sufficiently establish or reflect federal obligations, duties, responsibilities for or authority over the tribe.”
David Tennant, an attorney for the Littlefields, neighbors of the planned Taunton casino who brought the lawsuit, confirmed that the Interior’s attorneys also informed his legal team of the impending decision, saying he fully expects the Interior’s decision to follow “the clear law,” and that the tribe will be found ineligible under the Indian Reorganization Act to have its land taken into trust.
“We fully expect them to tell the tribe, ‘no,’ as they had previously,” Tennant said.
Michelle Littlefield, who has led efforts by a group of Taunton residents opposing the casino, has previously raised concerns about the effects of the project on the community, including the proximity to a school and airport, as well as raising questions about the jobs promised by project proponents. She declined to comment on Monday, referring questions to Tennant.
News of the impending decision comes after the Interior Department chose to take no position during a congressional hearing on June 24 on a bill that would secure the tribe’s reservation, despite prepared statements that indicated it was prepared to back the effort.
Darryl LaCounte, acting director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, testified before the House Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs during that hearing, saying the agency was not prepared to take a position, but that he would “encourage” speeding up his department’s review of the status of the tribe’s land.
Ahead of the hearing, Cromwell urged Congress to exercise its plenary authority to prevent the “disestablishment of our reservation,” which he said would be the first instance of the U.S government severing its trust relationship with a tribe since the Termination Era, a period from the 1940s to the 1960s during which Congress pushed to end tribal independence by removing federal protections.
The bill was introduced earlier this year by U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass.; a twin bill has been introduced in the Senate. The legislation would affirm Interior’s 2015 decision, effectively ending the Littlefields’ lawsuit and barring future legal challenges to the land in trust status.
Keating and others previously said the legislation was a response to fears that the Interior Department was “seriously considering” taking the tribe’s land out of trust.
Keating said the bill was meant to prompt the Interior to make the right decision with respect to the tribe.
“I remain hopeful that is exactly what they will do,” he said Monday.
Keating previously said a negative finding from the Interior could mean financial ruin for the tribe, which could lose access to a variety of funding sources, including for social services, housing, education and environmental programs.
Last week, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council Vice Chairwoman Jessie “Little Doe” Baird testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, saying that having a federally protected reservation has been vital to the tribe’s exercise of sovereignty.
For decades, Baird has spearheaded an effort to revive the tribe’s native language; she said the work would not be possible without their land.
“Our land and our language are inextricably tied to one another, and to our ultimate survival as a people,” she said.
http://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20180827/decision-on-mashpee-wampanoag-tribes-land-expected-next-month
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