Tribes blast BIA on law enforcement

Monday, June 4, 2007  

Tribal leaders criticized the Bureau of Indian Affairs at a House Natural Resources Committee field hearing on law enforcement.

The hearing was held on the Lower Brule Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. The committee heard from e Bureau of Indian Affairs director Pat Ragsdale and two panels of tribal and Indian leaders.

Mike Jandreau, the chairman of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, said the BIA has failed to provide funds to staff a new $13 million jail complex. The facility was supposed to open last September, Jandreau said, but nothing has happened.

Lester Thompson Jr., the chairman of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, said he didn't get any new information from the BIA. "Bureaucratic lip service," he told The Sioux Falls Argus Leader.

Get the Story:
Tribal leaders vent concerns (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 6/2)

Committee Notice:
Full Committee Oversight Hearing: “The Needs and Challenges of Tribal Law Enforcement on Indian Reservations" (June 1, 2007)

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