Witness list for hearing on Trump administration destroying sacred sites for border wall

Wednesday, February 26, 2020  

The House Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States will be discussing the Trump administration's destruction of sacred sites during construction of a wall along the border with Mexico.

The legislative panel invited Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney to testify at the hearing on Wednesday afternoon. Just two weeks ago, she was told about the destruction of burial grounds in Arizona by Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Ned Norris Jr.

"You have an obligation to protect sacred sites, sacred areas and religious areas for Native American people," Norris, whose nation was divided by the imposition of the border through the tribe's homelands, told Sweeney. "You have failed to protect those areas."

EARLIER: “You have an obligation to protect sacred sites and sacred areas. You have failed”: Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Ned Norris Jr blasts Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney for letting Trump administration desecrate sacred places for wall along US border. pic.twitter.com/yrEzEgetBJ

— indianz.com (@indianz) February 11, 2020

"I call on you to exercise your responsibility and stop the destruction of sacred sites within Native American communities," Norris said to applause at the winter meeting of the National Congress of American Indians in Washington, D.C., on February 11.

But Sweeney, who is the Trump administration official with the most responsibilities in Indian Country, will not be appearing at the hearing alongside Norris. The Department of the Interior is instead sending Scott Cameron, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management, and Budget, to testify.

"The department remains committed to meaningfully consulting with tribes on a government- to-government basis with regard to each plan and action the department takes that has tribal implications," Cameron says in written testimony that describes the discovery of human remains at border construction sites.

The hearing takes place at 2pm Eastern in Room 1324 of the Longworth House Office Building. The witness list follows:

The House Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States is part of the House Committee on Natural Resources.

Destroying Sacred Sites and Erasing Tribal Culture: The Trump Administration’s Construction of the Border Wall (February 26, 2020)

'Do your job': Tribes slam Trump administration on sovereignty and homelands (February 12, 2020)