A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction against the Bush administration, ordering officials to stop the restructuring of education programs at the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The judge said the plans must be put on hold until the BIA consults with New Mexico's 19 Pueblos. The tribes filed a lawsuit in August, saying they were kept in the dark about the reorganization.

The Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council and the All Indian Pueblo Council say the administration has taken $4 million in program money to pay for the changes. The judge didn't find evidence to support the claim so far but the tribes plan to press the issue in court.

"You can't hide the fact that budgets were cut and programs were lost," Ann Berkley Rodgers, an attorney for the tribes, told The Albuquerque Journal.

A federal judge has put a halt to the reorganization in North Dakota and South Dakota. The Navajo Nation is also in talks over a lawsuit it filed in July.

Get the Story:
Tribes Sue Over School Agency (The Albuquerque Journal 10/16)
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Plains Court Decision:
Yankton Sioux Tribe v. Kempthorne (July 14, 2006)

Senate Hearing Documents/Info:
Oversight Hearing on Indian Education (May 25, 2006)

Relevant Links:
Office of Indian Education Programs, BIA - http://www.oiep.bia.edu
Office of Indian Education Programs Human Resources Services - http://www.oiephr.bia.edu

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