"Citizens living within Seneca and Cayuga counties are now being subjected to the same dog and pony show put on by the Department of the Interior (DOI) and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) which citizens in Madison and Oneida counties were subjected to several years ago.

United States Senator Charles Schumer is giving a repeat performance and doing the very same thing in response to the Cayuga filing for land-into-trust that he did for the Oneida filing: Talk. He is going to jump up and down and cry foul in the press and in front of cameras, but he isn’t actually going to do anything of substance.

Schumer knows that the land-into-trust process in controlled by Indians and their supporters, and that nothing he says is going to change a favorable outcome for the Indian tribes. He should also know that the very act of taking title to sovereign state land without the state’s consent is unconstitutional, and that, contrary to what the courts are claiming, the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution in no way allows for such taking. He should also know that the law that permits the DOI to take land into trust for Indian tribes was only meant to apply to federal public lands."

Get the Story:
Scott E. Peterman: Schumer useless in land-into-trust process (The Auburn Citizen 12/6)

Related Stories:
Sen. Schumer asks BIA to kill Cayuga Nation land-into-trust bid (11/30)
BIA set to close comment period on Cayuga land-into-trust bid (11/15)
BIA set to make decision on Cayuga Nation land-into-trust bid (10/15)
Schumer opposes Cayuga Nation land-into-trust (7/1)
Editorial: BIA fails on Cayuga land-into-trust (6/22)
Big turnout for Cayuga Nation land-into-trust (6/18)
BIA holds meeting on Cayuga Nation land-into-trust (6/17)