When Native Nations seek to disenroll their citizens, they are acting every bit as seriously as when a government imprisons someone. That is because like liberty, Native citizenship—and its effects on identity—are at the core of what it means to be Native. Indeed, the act of disenrollment impacts both the individual being disenrolled and the community-at-large. Most individuals—whether Native or non-Native—have a sense of self that is based, in part, on their connection to a community and that community’s reciprocal acceptance of them. Having that connection forcefully altered by a government can lead an individual to question who he/she is and can shatter all or part of an individual’s identity. Similarly, since the act of disenrollment can sever connections and relationships between individuals and the community, the community-at-large is affected. In fact, disenrollment of one or more individuals may cause other community members to question their place in the community and wonder if their citizenship—and by extension, part of their identity—is also likely to be subject to the whims of whomever the leaders are at the time. In other words, disenrollment can lead community members to wonder, “Are my family and I next?” In short, disenrollment tears at the very fabric of what it means to be a community.

Since disenrollment has such profound effects on the rights and identity of an individual as well as the cohesion and identity of the community, substantial procedural safeguards must be erected. Governments serious about their sovereignty – and who want to be taken seriously as sovereigns by their own citizens as well as other sovereigns – need to spend time determining what these safeguards should be, and what cultural, judicial, or other democratic systems need to be bolstered or established, in order to ensure the protection of citizens’ rights. And it is the people who must be allowed to help elected governmental leaders make those critical determinations and perform that hard work.

One source of inspiration for such protections might be the United States, where the safeguards are nearly absolute and in favor of an individual citizen’s right to remain a citizen. In America, no citizen by birth may have their citizenship revoked involuntarily; rather, a U.S. citizen may only change that portion of their identity by voluntarily choosing to renounce their citizenship. The same safeguard essentially holds true for state citizenship as well, so long as an individual meets certain minimum requirements. For naturalized citizens, revocation can occur, but it is extremely rare and there are a substantial number of procedural hurdles that the U.S. government must overcome – starting with an under-oath affidavit of just cause to even initiate the process – before the revocation process can proceed.