A Bureau of Indian Affairs policy regarding land-into-trust applications is causing some heartaches for the city of Miami, Oklahoma.

The city sent its attorney to the BIA to discuss an application filed by the Ottawa Tribe. But the deputy superintendent wouldn't let the attorney look at the documents unless the city filed a Freedom of Information Act request.

"“She brought out for me big, thick three-ring binders that contained the tribe's application, unfortunately she couldn't let me look at them," city attorney David Anderson told the city council, The Miami News Record reported.

In a different case, the Sauk County Board in Wisconsin sent its attorney to Washington, D.C., to look at the Ho-Chunk Nation land-into-trust application but wasn't given a copy.

Get the Story:
Miami economic development incentive given go ahead /Ottawa Tribe's trust land request stalled (The Miami News-Record 10/3)

Related Stories:
County suing BIA for Ho-Chunk Nation land-into-trust papers (9/19)