A group of Native American tribes and students are suing the Trump administration to reverse the recent firing of federal workers in Indigenous peoples.
The firing, part of a series of layoffs led by government efficiency, which has cut thousands of federal jobs since January, included almost a quarter of staff members, the only two colleges in which the federal government is two, for native peoples around the country.
Instructors, basketball coaches, security and maintenance workers were among those who were forced to be fired or resigned in February. The total number of layoffs was not clear on Sunday, but the cuts also included employees from the central and regional offices of the federal agency, the Department of Education in India. Some staff have been rehired, according to a statement from the Native American Rights Fund, which filed a lawsuit Friday in federal court in Washington. Approximately 45,000 children are enrolled in 23 state department-funded schools.
According to the lawsuit, dozens of courses from two universities lost instructors as a result of the cut. And with the loss of support staff and maintenance workers, the school dorms quickly overrun with garbage, students reporting indifferent brown water, the dining halls were unable to properly feed the students, and the blackouts interfered with the students' study ability.
“Unfortunately, these dismissals were made without preparation regardless of the health and safety of the students. It is a continuation of a history of negligence and disrespect,” said Jacqueline DeLeón, a tribal and student lawyer. “We're here to fight to make sure it doesn't continue.”
Counsel for the Native American Rights Fund has filed a lawsuit against the head of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Bureau of India Affairs and the Department of Educational Programmes of India.
The plaintiffs included the tribal state of Pueblo, Isleta. Prairie band Potawa Tomination. and the tribes of Cheyenne and Arapaho. Five students from two universities are also among the plaintiffs.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, which houses the Bureau of Education and India's Affairs, said the department has not commented on the pending lawsuit.
The federal government has a legal obligation to protect and maintain special relations with federal recognized tribes.
This obligation, upheld by the federal court in 1831, includes the requirement to maintain tribal sovereignty, work with tribes on projects and policies that affect them, and respect the tribe's right to make decisions in their best interests. The lawsuit said the government violated the trust requirements by not consulting with the tribe regarding the shooting.
“Even though it has a treaty obligation to provide educational opportunities for tribal students, the federal government has long failed to provide proper services,” Herschel Gorham, lieutenant governor of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, said in a statement. “When the Indian Education Department was taking steps to correct the situation, these reductions undermined all these efforts. These institutions are valuable to our community. We don't see them sitting down and fail.”
The US government has a history with Indigenous schools. For more than 150 years, hundreds of thousands of Indigenous children have been sent to boarding schools. In many cases, they assimilated non-native cultures after being taken out of their homes. Abuse and neglect were common in the original assimilation schools, with large graves nearby such institutions across the country. More than 100 people are buried in such a cemetery in Haskell.
Federal funding for tribal schools has also declined steadily since 2010 with the enrollment of Native American and Alaska Native students.
According to the Post-Secondary National Institute of Policy, which accounts for the nation's smallest ethnic group of Native American and Alaska native students, a non-profit research institute, less than 1% of students enrolled in post-secondary schools in 2021, the most recent year when data is available.
Alan Blinder Reports of contributions.
