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12-14-2012 (Last Real Indians post) (updated 2026)
By Trace Hentz
This week (December 2012) I was contacted by a young woman whose mother Amy is an adoptee,
born in 1965. They believe Amy is full-blood Hopi and we hope to prove it.
Another adoptee Michael and I are trying to figure out what language he spoke
as a child to give us some clue as to which tribe is his family. We believe
he’s Apache. Another adoptee Tom contacted me in 2011 and asked me to help he
and his sister find their tribal relatives in Washington state since they were
brought to Connecticut and placed in a closed adoption as young children. Tom
and his sister believe they might be Colville. I haven't been able to connect
them to relatives even though I wrote a few tribal newspaper editors in
Washington and asked for their help.
I’m not giving up on any adoptee.
All of these adoptees come from the time period of the Indian Adoption
Programs and Projects - when the US government and the Child Welfare League of
America were funding ARENA (Adoption Resource Exchange of North America) and
paying churches and agencies to remove Indian children; they purposefully
placed babies and children with non-Indian parents in closed adoptions. (Read
chapter 39, Indian Placement Program in my anthology TWO WORLDS.)
Since the late 1800s, adoptions happened before, during and after
residential boarding schools (in the US and Canada). It's no surprise that the
numbers of adopted Indian children are calculated in percentages, not actual
statistics, and left purposefully vague. (Ontario has a class action for
adoptees in the works now. We know First Nations children were also brought
from Canada to the US as part of ARENA.) These two governments decided
assimilation was a very good idea and adoptions far from the reservation would
erase the Indian blood and a child's memories of home.
Every email I receive and every phone call I make, I want to give adoptees
something concrete, something helpful, something that will work. In truth, I can't
because it doesn't exist, not with sealed adoption records, no paperwork or
proof, and current laws that prevent adoptees from knowing their tribal
identities.
There are things I want to happen and my list grows after each email and
phone call...
First, I want adoptees and birthfamilies to write their legislators and tell
them, "This is wrong," and we finally get someone in the government
to hear us and offer their help.
I want an American government agency to help repatriate adoptees to their
tribes. (Canada has three repatriation programs for adoptees.)
I want more people to see this history for what it was: a form of mind
control using assimilation to kill culture in children, what could be called
genocide of the mind. Our loss was the government's gain.
When I get requests from adoptees, I email ideas. If a state (like Kansas or
Oregon for example) has open records, I can guide them to the state agency or
registry and then tell them about search angels who will help for free or small
fees. I can explain how to order their adoption files and get a court order,
etc. I can give examples of how adoptees (like me) got around the laws and what
worked for us.
For Amy, Arizona sealed her adoption file. For Michael, New York and New Mexico
sealed his adoption file. I want to be able to tell Michael he is Apache, what
band of Apache and connect him to his relatives. For Tom and his sister, I want
to locate their parents so we can find out why they were taken as children but Washington has sealed their adoption. For
all of them, truth is a mystery.
I want to be able to tell them, "This is what we'll do and it will work
and in about a week you will get a phone call from the tribe and they will help
you." But that would be a lie. Now I can only offer them hope and my two
FIVE books on this history and this issue. Finally, I want tribes to do something! Tribes could hire lawyers and
legally demand the states and agencies who took children to release their names
and adoption files. Tribes could create a list of birthdates of children who
disappeared so adoptees could match their birthdate on a database.
Tribes could also create some form of welcome ceremony or reunion powwow or
something to help the adoptee meet relatives and hear their family stories.
Right now, adoptees have mountains to climb and laws to conquer and no one
to turn to... and knowing which tribe can be a huge obstacle when there are
570+ federally recognized tribes. For them it’s still TRIBE UNKNOWN.
What adoption did was conquer and uproot children and hurt generations in
tribal nations. Being adopted ultimately
disrupted our rights as sovereign citizens in North America.
Before 1978, most Native American adopted children were taken into non-Indian families. Some of those "Lost Birds" have found a way to make peace with the past and reclaim their native culture. By Mary Annette Pember (published in the Daily Yonder, March 2010)
The story about the arrest of white missionaries trying to adopt allegedly orphaned Haitian children struck a chord with me. Similar media stories about well meaning white celebrities adopting pretty babies of color from poor third world countries have also rubbed me the wrong way. You see, American Indians have a long history of white folks trying to help us by taking away our children. It is estimated that between 1941 and 1978, white parents adopted 35 percent of American Indians in the U.S., often forcibly. Indians have learned that no amount of good intention can wipe away the painful loss of our culture.
Not long ago, I traveled to Minneapolis as I worked on a story about the Lost Birds. The Lost Birds are those Indian people who were adopted by non-Indian families prior to 1978. More personal than I had realized, this story caught me by surprise; it touched the center of who I am as an Ojibwe woman and as a mother.
We adopted our son Danny from my tribe in 2005 when he was 7 months old. Danny came into our lives as though directed by an outside force. Both my husband I felt that he was meant to be raised by us and that he was meant to know he is an Ojibwe man. That “knowing” has been a deep wordless tie between us and one to which I feel all people, non Indian and otherwise, are entitled.
So, it was with some trepidation that I began a story about Rachel Kupcho, an Ojibwe women and her adoptive white parents. Would I be able to keep my feelings about interracial adoption in perspective?
I worried about this and other things during my flight to Minneapolis. Unexpectedly, I noticed the Mississippi River or Great River in the Ojibwe language as the plane descended into the Twin Cities. The power of that great water caught me by surprise, pinching my heart in a nameless, primordial way and I felt a homecoming not without pain. With relief, I recalled that in Ojibwe tradition, we women are the ones who care for the water and I was comforted. I thought of our traditional Ojibwe stories describing this connection with place and the land. Once again, I was awed by the wisdom and nuance of my culture that at once understands yet celebrates the ineffable. A wave of calm washed over me; I knew that the story would emerge in the way that it should.
In the end, I came to see that many mothers, Indian and non-Indian but all women who care for the water, built Rachel’s life and strength, like the Great River.
At first glance Rachel didn’t look like much of a Lost Bird to me. In fact she appeared to be just the opposite. Confident and beautiful, she strode around the Minneapolis American Indian Center[6] with calm authority. She seemed to easily carry the pride that is so typical of an Anishinabikwe or young Ojibwe woman as she worked to organize the annual Gathering of Our Children and Returning Adoptees Powwow.
Sandy White Hawk has helped organize this powwow for several years. She is executive director of the First Nations Orphan Association[7], an organization that helps returning adoptees find their way back to their culture. Since Sandy suddenly took ill, Rachel stepped in at the last minute to coordinate the event. Organizing a powwow is no small task. There is quite a bit of protocol involved and the potential for drama is high. Rachel, however, seemed born to the task; to look at her I would have never suspected this was the first time she had overseen a powwow or that until a few years ago had had very little exposure to her culture. Like many who attended this powwow Rachel was adopted at birth and raised by white parents.
When the doors of the Indian Center opened up, people began to trickle in. It was easy to identify the Lost Birds. Their fear and guarded emotions seemed almost palpable as they stepped uncertainly into the gym. They were drawn by the sound of the drum that they may have been hearing for the first time on that day. Looking more deeply into their faces, I sensed hope, a hope that they might begin to return home.
Mary Annette Pember photo -- Rachel Kupcho, herself adoped by non-Indian parents, welcomed participants at the Gathering of Our Children and Returning Adoptees Powwow in Minneapolis.
I noticed Rachel ushering people into the gym with a calm smile and I wondered how she has come by such self-assurance. The simple yet enormous answer begins with her parents, Keith and Lisa Kupcho. Typically, they are in the background, quietly helping set up tables for the event. They discretely excuse themselves once the heavy lifting is finished. They will return when their daughter needs them later in the evening for the Wanblenica or Orphan’s Song and ceremony.
Like so many Indian children prior to 1978, Rachel was given up for adoption by her birth mother from the White Earth Ojibwe Reservation in Minnesota and placed with a non-Indian family. Rachel, however, does not share the typical Indian adoptee history that is so often filled with stories of physical, sexual and emotional abuse. Painful and more insidious than the physical abuse that adoptees report, has been a rejection of their natural spirit. The shame of being Indian and therefore inferior is a lasting wound that remains open for countless adoptees. Too many try to medicate these wounds with alcohol and drugs, vainly trying to ease their pain.
This generation of “Lost Birds” as they are often called, resulted from the well -intentioned U. S federal policy of assimilation that sought to integrate Indians into mainstream culture. The policy was intended to help lift Indians out of the poverty and social ills that plagued the reservations. Instead, it supported the near wholesale removal of children from their homes, families and cultures. Before the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, that gave tribes jurisdiction over their own families, thousands of Indian children who entered the social services system were adopted into non-Indian families. In their misguided efforts to help raise Indian people from poverty, churches and social service agencies mistook Indian culture as the culprit in the community’s problems. Therefore all things “Indian” were to be stamped out. Language, culture and the Indian tradition of child rearing that includes extended family, were viewed as backward and wrong. Understandably, many Indian adoptees internalized these messages and have had difficulty returning to their cultures. Rachel Kupcho, however, seems to have made her way back to her people with relative ease, achieving a comfort level that is enviable.
To know her story fully, I must meet all the mothers, the water caregivers who have contributed to her life and journey home.
Rachel is one of four ethnically diverse children adopted and raised by Lisa and Keith Kupcho in Chanhassen, Minnesota about 20 miles outside of Minneapolis. Small and brown at the front, the Kupcho home sits a bit further back from the street than do the other houses. I imagine a certain sweet shyness about the house. Inside, the walls are richly covered with paintings, photos and prints of women of color and their children, lots of children. Photos of the Kupcho children and a seemingly endless convoluted photo storyline of their friends’ children and grandchildren are everywhere. Mary Annette Pember photo -- Lisa Kupcho, at right, and her daughters (l-r) Eve, Rachel, and Sarah, catch up around the kitchen table in Chanhassen, Minnesota. The Kupchos also have a son, Aaron. All their children were adopted.
We visited over coffee in her kitchen. There was an aura of love in that kitchen that seemed to speak of bottomless acceptance. I found myself moved to tears several times during the interview.
“Fortunately, I learned early on that I couldn’t fix everything in my children’s lives,” said Lisa.
Potentially, there was a lot to “fix” in being a white mother to her racially diverse clan. Now grown, the children are; Aaron, Filipino and Norwegian, Sarah, Scotch and Irish, Rachel, Ojibwe and Italian and Eve, African American and German.
She recalled being confronted by an African American instructor years ago during a parenting class about adopting and raising mixed race children.
Lisa recovered from her sense of feeling unjustly accused and resisted storming out of the class.
“I realized that I needed to hear what this woman had to tell us. She prepared us for not thinking we could fix everything with parental love alone, “ she recalled.
Not only did she learn that she wouldn’t be able to isolate her children from the hurt of racism, she learned to be open to those who could mentor her through the parenting process. Mary Annette Pember photo -- Sandy White Hawk, who directs the First Nations Orphan Association, began the powwow for adoptees and attended the most recent gathering with her husband, George.
Enter Sandy White Hawk, a challenging mentor if there ever was one. Sandy recalls her Indian caregiver handing her, at 18 months, through the window of a pickup truck into the hands of white missionaries who had come to the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota to “help the Indians.” Sandy internalized her adoptive parents message that she was and ever would be a pagan, a member of an inferior race. She was also physically and sexually abused in the home. Seeking to soothe her wounded soul, she turned to drugs and alcohol. Nothing seemed to take away the hurt until she found recovery and ‘came home’ over 20 years ago to her people and culture. She recalls the sense of relief and healing upon hearing the American Indian drum for the first time.
“The drum goes to that place where there are no words. As adoptees when we first hear it, we realize it has been what we were longing for.”
Since, she has been compelled, almost obsessed in an effort to share this experience with other adoptees, knowing in her belly that a healing path lies therein. Working with a number of elders and spiritual leaders including Jerry Dearly, Lakota, she helped bring the Wanblenica or Orphan’s Song and ceremony that wipes away tears to Indian adoptees. It was during a Wanblenica that she came into the Kupcho’s lives.
The first Wanblenica offered by Sandy’s group was presented at an annual National Indian Child Welfare Association conference in Duluth. Rachel had recently been hired at NICWA and was helping to organize the conference. Typically, her parents were there as well, pitching in where they could, happy to be of service to their daughter. The theme of the conference was “Reclaiming the Stolen Ones.”
Lisa recalls Keith’s look of surprise over the theme’s name. “Stolen? Ooooh, a bit harsh.” he said.
Rather than feeling threatened, Lisa saw the conference as a learning opportunity. Soothing Keith, she reminded him of their motto: “Whatever is good for our kids, is good for our family.”
Lisa has come to believe that there is a core piece of something missing for adopted kids, a piece of abandonment for which they must seek healing in their own way. She has spoken often to her children about this need and assured them of her support if they choose to explore their biological background and culture more fully.
“Whatever I can do or bring into their lives that makes them more healthy and whole advances our relationship. When you’re a mother first, you do whatever you can to make your child feel well and whole and supported.”
She was excited and honored to participate in the Wanblenica. In the end “Rachel’s growth has been our growth,” she affirms. Mary Annette Pember photo --Rachel Kupcho stood between her parents, Lisa and Keith, at the Wanblenica, the Lakota Orphan Song and Ceremony. Rachel said it was "the most profound moment of my life.”
Lisa and Keith stood firmly behind Rachel during the ceremony, their hands resting on her shoulders. Tears streamed uncontrollably down her face during the Wanblecheya. “I felt so unbelievably loved. It was the most profound moments of my life.” Rachel recalls.
For Lisa, the ceremony represented a healthy sense of completion. “It was an embrace and acknowledgment of loss,” she said.
Although she has never felt lost or misplaced, Rachel felt the relief of being welcomed into the circle of her culture at last. Not only was the event a homecoming, according to Rachel, it was an acknowledgment from her parents that her quest for her heritage is important.
“Up until that point, it was the only thing they weren’t able to give me, but they were present when I received this gift,” she remembers.
Rachel is now convinced that without the unconditional love and support of her parents, she would not be strong enough to do the work that has now become her passion and her calling.
Working to support the Indian Child Welfare Act is now her life. She is a court advocate for ICWA and helps Sandy in her efforts to gain funding for a project to create a social work curriculum that includes knowledge about Indian families and culture. “Everything that has happened in my life has prepared me to do this work.”
Lisa sees Sandy as a wonderful mentor and role model for Rachel. “It has almost been a relief to have others in our lives who could give Rachel what she needs”, Lisa laughs, recalling some mother daughter challenges. In the end, for Lisa, she has gained a friend in Sandy.
The passion of these three women, from such different backgrounds, has intertwined to form a tapestry of family love and support. I am reminded of my earlier vision of the Great River and how it unites its many channels into one big river, much like these women or water caregivers have united to grow Rachel into an Anishinabikwe.
As the Adoptees Powwow comes to an end, the Sisseton Wahpeton Vietnam Veterans Color guards insist on having their photo taken with Rachel. Wearing full eagle feather headdresses and military fatigues, they surround her creating a vision of embrace, acceptance and support. She has, indeed, arrived home.
Note: The reporting and writing for this project were supported by a grant from the USC Annenberg's Institute for Justice and Journalism.
[There will be more stories from my archives and research posted -- Trace]
Native adoptees, formerly fostered individuals, families, and community members gathered at the Minneapolis American Indian Center on Saturday, November 7th for the 20th Annual Gathering for Our Children and Returning Adoptees Pow Wow, a day dedicated to healing, reconnection, and welcoming relatives home.
The gathering provided a space for those separated from their families, communities, and cultures through adoption and foster care to reconnect with their Native identity and experience the support of the community.
One of the most emotional moments of the day came during the Wablenica Ceremony, also known as the Orphan Song Ceremony, which honors returning adoptees, formerly fostered individuals, and their families.
The ceremony acknowledged the grief, loss, and separation experienced by generations of Native families. As the ceremony concluded, community members came forward to embrace and welcome the returning relatives, offering a powerful reminder that they have a place within their communities.
The moment was deeply moving, as the community came together to recognize those who had been separated from their families and heritage, some for much of their lives.
A History of Separation and a Journey Home
Throughout the powwow, the master of ceremonies reflected on the historical experiences of Native adoptees and foster children, comparing their return to that of people coming home from war.
He spoke of adoptees and formerly fostered individuals as among the last relatives to return from generations of policies and practices that separated Native people from their families and communities.
The comparison reflected the lasting impacts of federal assimilation policies, including the boarding school era and the widespread removal of Native children into non-Native adoptive and foster homes.
Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in 1978 in response to the disproportionate removal of Native children from their families. The law was intended to protect Native children, preserve family and tribal connections, and recognize tribal sovereignty in child welfare proceedings.
Despite these protections, the effects of family separation continue across generations.
The Gathering for Our Children and Returning Adoptees Pow Wow began in 2003 as a space for healing and cultural reconnection. Longtime advocate Sandy White Hawk and other organizers have emphasized the importance of helping returning relatives feel welcomed and accepted within their communities.
Honoring Families and Children
Beyond the Wablenica Ceremony, the gathering included dancing, songs, fellowship, and a community supper, which Pow Wow Grounds and Bob Rice helped provide.
The evening also featured a special recognition of adoptive and foster families. Those being honored were draped in Pendleton blankets as an honor song was performed, acknowledging their place in the lives of adoptees and foster children.
The moment was another expression of gratitude and recognition during a gathering centered on family, healing, and reconnection.
Children were also celebrated with a special giveaway that included eagle plushies donated by the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, along with books and bags of goodies. The giveaway brought another moment of joy to the gathering while emphasizing the importance of honoring and supporting Native children.
Hennepin County and the First Nations Repatriation Institute supported the event, with organizers and volunteers helping create a welcoming environment for returning relatives.
For attendees, the gathering was more than a traditional powwow. It was an opportunity to acknowledge a painful history while celebrating the resilience of Native families and the importance of cultural belonging.
As community members welcomed returning adoptees during the Wablenica Ceremony, the gathering sent a powerful message: no matter how much time has passed or how far they have been separated from their communities, returning relatives are welcome home.
On Tuesday, Crystalyne Curley was elected the next president of the Navajo Nation. She’s the first woman to be elected to the position. Raised in Fish Point, a small community about 23 miles southwest of Chinle, Crystalyne Curley built a career across the Navajo Nation’s judicial, legislative, and executive branches before becoming the first woman elected Speaker of the Navajo Nation Council in 2023. She has described growing up in a rural community without running water and has connected that experience to her focus on infrastructure and services in remote communities.
Curley’s running mate was former Arizona state Rep. Christopher Deschene. Curley won by a narrow margin, and her opponent Justin Jones has stated that he intends to the challenge the results.
Seneca Nation President-Elect Tina Abrams
Seneca Nation voters elected Tina Abrams President on Nov. 3, making her the first woman to hold the Nation’s highest elected office. Abrams has served on the Seneca Nation Council since 2001 and became its first woman co-chair in 2012.
The election also puts women in all three elected executive offices at Seneca for the first time: Abrams as President, Lenith Waterman as Treasurer, and Bethany Johnson as Clerk. The Seneca Nation adopted its democratic form of government under its Constitution in 1848.
Abram’s historic win is also notable since Seneca Nation is matrilineal, but women only secured the right to vote after 1964 referendum. Once her win was announced, Abrams stated,
The Seneca people did not go to the polls to elect a woman President today. We went to the polls to choose a president who can lead our Nation with strength, honesty, vision and conviction. That is my charge.
Native women made history by Rebecca Nagle
Native women are headed to the Senate and Governor’s House
In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola (Yup’ik) ran to unseat the Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan. With 75% of the votes counted, Peltola is leading with 48.18% of the vote with Sullivan close behind at 47.88%. It may take weeks to know the final results. If Peltola wins, she will be the first Native woman and the first Alaska Native to serve in the US Senate.
Tribal Leaders Warned Border Wall Construction Would Disturb Native American Remains. They Were Right.
Lorraine Eiler stood in the blazing August sun, surrounded by reporters, to offer a warning. The Trump administration was racing to erect a second border wall across Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, southwest of Tucson. If the bulldozers came, she said, they were bound to disturb the final resting places of her family and Hia-Ced O’odham tribal ancestors.
“People used to live here,” the 89-year-old said.
Fifteen days later, her fears were realized.
ProPublica has confirmed that Native American remains were unearthed in Organ Pipe amid soil overturned by border wall contractors.
The discovery, unreported until now, was made on Sept. 8, the National Park Service said in a statement. “Following established protocols, the University of Arizona conducted an assessment and confirmed that the remains are human and align with tribal cremation practices,” the agency said.
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act governs the steps agencies must take following an inadvertent discovery of Native American remains on federal land. Those steps include halting any activity that contributed to the discovery until tribal communities are consulted.
“The National Park Service is committed to respecting tribal rights and traditions,” the agency went on to say, adding that it was “working diligently to identify the culturally affiliated tribe and ensure the respectful return of the remains, so the tribe may observe their religious and cultural practices.”
Eiler was alerted to the discovery by a cultural affairs specialist with the Tohono O’odham Nation, a larger tribe whose reservation is east of Organ Pipe, and later by the Organ Pipe superintendent’s office. Her family discussed what to do next. Ultimately, they decided to hold off on reburying the newly unearthed remains until construction in the area stops, fearing the work will disturb more sites.
“Who knows what more will come up,” Eiler said in an interview. “They’re going to find remains wherever they dig.”
Customs and Border Protection contractors have bulldozed a wide swath of vegetation parallel to the international divide. The agency has fashioned staging areas for heavy equipment by knocking down, uprooting and attempting to transplant select specimens of the monument’s native plants. Eiler was told the remains were found by a park service archaeologist near the base of a saguaro cactus that was still standing.
In a statement, CBP said it was advised of the discovery six days after it was made, that its cultural resource specialists examined the area and found no other remains, and that “no additional construction has occurred at this location to date.”
The discovery comes amid tensions between the Department of Homeland Security and tribal communities in the Sonoran Desert. In April, border wall contractors bulldozed through a large, well-marked earthen etching, known as the Las Playas Intaglio, that was believed to be at least 6,500 years old. (CBP said the incident was accidental.)
Soon after, the department awarded a $1.3 billion contract for construction of a 62-mile border wall across the entirety of the Tohono O’odham Nation. The tribe is fighting the project in federal court and has erected “no trespassing” signs to keep border wall contractors off its land. As ProPublica recently reported, DHS has responded by deploying masked federal agents as escorts for its work crews and conducting aerial surveillance of tribal members. The head of CBP has justified the need for a wall by describing the reservation as “one of the most dangerous smuggling and trafficking corridors on the Southwest border.”
Verlon M. Jose, the tribe’s chairman, expressed gratitude that the park service had notified his office of the discovery, but mourned the fact that it was necessary.
“When you have mass destruction and disturbance of land taking place where there are clearly sacred sites, cemeteries and other areas of cultural importance, these types of discoveries are bound to happen,” Jose said in a statement. “Every time this happens it is a wound to the heart of all members of the Tohono O’odham Nation — these are our ancestors, our family members — whose remains are being desecrated.”
U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva, who appeared with Eiler and the chairman at the August news conference, blasted the government for failing to heed their warnings. “Tribal leaders and elders have warned DHS about the devastating consequences of bulldozing through their ancestral lands, beginning with the destruction of the Las Playas Intaglio,” she said in a statement. “For months, those warnings have fallen on deaf ears. Now, we are seeing exactly what they feared: sacred sites destroyed and ancestral burial grounds desecrated.”
James T. Watson, curator of bioarcheology in the Arizona State Museum at the University of Arizona, analyzed the remains recovered in Organ Pipe in the field.
While he was not authorized to discuss the details of his findings without park service approval, Watson said in an email that he confirmed the remains were human. The evidence suggested they were cremated in a manner consistent with precolonial practices in the region dating back 1,500 years, he wrote.
Under NAGPRA, the graves protection act, Native American remains inadvertently uncovered on park service lands must be immediately secured, Watson explained, and the superintendent of the jurisdiction must notify “all relevant lineal descendants” with “potential cultural affiliation or ancestral ties to the land.”
“Work in the immediate discovery area must remain suspended for at least 30 calendar days,” he wrote, while the park service consults with tribal representatives “to determine the disposition and physical treatment of the remains.”
In a region as rich with archaeological sites as the American Southwest, the inadvertent disturbance of Native American remains occurs with some regularity. What sets the discovery in Organ Pipe apart are the extraordinary powers the Department of Homeland Security wields to expedite wall construction in the borderlands.
Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Congress passed the Real ID Act, which included a provision empowering the secretary of DHS to waive any law that might slow border wall construction. In the two decades since, DHS has invoked its powers 66 times, with 60 of those instances occurring under President Donald Trump’s two administrations.
When DHS uses this authority, it typically waives dozens of laws at a time. That was the case in 2019 when the department set its sights on Organ Pipe. A waiver issued by then-acting Secretary Kevin K. McAleenan set aside more than 40 of the nation’s most stringent environmental and cultural resource protection laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act and others. Also on that list was the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the landmark 1990 law that acknowledged the nation’s long history of desecrating Native American burials and required that ancestral remains and cultural objects be returned to tribes.
In an internal 2019 report obtained by The Washington Post, park service officials identified nearly two dozen archaeological sites in Organ Pipe as at risk of damage or total destruction by government contractors.
Of particular significance is a desert oasis known as Quitobaquito Springs. Less than 200 feet from the international border, the springs provide one of the only reliable sources of groundwater and shade for miles around, and they were a longtime gathering place, grazing site and home for O’odham families.
“Archaeological evidence of human presence at Quitobaquito extends back thousands of years, at least to Archaic times,” the survey found, adding that the springs represent the “only known Hia C-ed O’odham village site in the United States.”
A park service report in 2024 noted that a cemetery at Quitobaquito holds the remains of at least two families, including Eiler’s, and 34 graves. Throughout the region, remains of 5,500 ancestors that were displaced have been made available for return to the Tohono O’odham Nation, according to ProPublica’s NAGPRA database.
“This sort of incident has happened numerous times across our homeland, and it’s always alarming to hear about a case from an O’odham point of view,” said David Martínez, a professor of American Indian and transborder studies at the University of Arizona and a member of the Hia-Ced O’odham and Akimel O’odham tribes, as well as the Gila River Indian Community.
“Those remains shouldn’t have been disturbed in the first place,” he said. “While there are protocols existing today to properly care for these remains, ultimately, whatever either the government or the corporate world is pursuing to build, we know that at some juncture that construction will continue, and it always leaves us feeling, I think, a little hollow.”
Today, Quitobaquito lies in the shadow of the border wall erected during Trump’s first term. Its construction required detonating explosives in the national monument, blasting apart an area called Monument Hill and outraging tribal leaders. According to Eiler, the remains recovered in September were not found at the springs, though government work crews are working in close proximity to the site.
This year, DHS hired Sundt Construction, an Arizona-based company, to build a second wall in the monument. The $443 million contract was finalized in May. (Sundt directed questions concerning the discovery of human remains on its job site to CBP.)
According to CBP, the 2019 waiver for Organ Pipe is still in effect, years after completion of the project that prompted it. A second waiver, exempting DHS from many of the same laws and applying to the national monument as well as a wildlife refuge to the west, was issued by Homeland Security’s then-Secretary Kristi Noem last year.
“Unfortunately, there is no end date to the effectiveness of the waivers,” said Dinah Bear, a Tucson-based lawyer who served for 25 years as a senior attorney in the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality under both Democratic and Republican administrations. What’s more, she added, “there’s nothing in the statutory language that ties the waivers to a particular project.”
The Department of Homeland Security’s waiver powers have been central to a high-profile legal fight over the department’s efforts to build a border wall through Big Bend National Park in West Texas, with a federal judge overseeing the case recently ordering a temporary halt to the project.
Borderlands advocates in Arizona are hoping for similar interventions. In Congress, Grijalva is preparing legislation to void existing waivers that have allowed DHS to disregard laws designed to protect tribal sovereignty, sacred sites and environmentally sensitive lands.
In the meantime, construction on the border continues. For Eiler, it’s not just the destruction in Organ Pipe that’s troubling. She sees the disturbance of tribal graves resulting from wall construction as reflective of a wider pattern of destruction across the border.
“It’s sad because it’s not only happening down there,” she said. “It’s happening all over the United States, and nobody’s saying much about it.”
Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Councilor Raphael Wahwassuck at the Forest County Potawatomi for the Bodéwadmi Gathering 2026 (Potawatomi Gathering). (Photo/Levi Rickert)
Overview:
National Native American Heritage Month recognizes the histories, cultures, resilience, and contributions of Indigenous peoples while highlighting the ongoing challenges facing Native communities and the changing federal recognition of their heritage.
Nov. 1 marks the beginning of Native American Heritage Month, an opportunity to raise awareness of Indigenous history and contemporary Native issues and to recognize the Native people who enrich our nation’s culture and society.
National Native American Heritage Month, as it is officially called, is the culmination of a centuries-long effort to recognize the substantial contributions of Indigenous peoples.
Dr. Arthur Caswell Parker, a Cattaraugus Seneca Indian, historian, anthropologist, and author from New York, was an early proponent of establishing a day to honor Native Americans. Parker founded several influential American Indian rights organizations, including the Society of American Indians in 1911 and the National Congress of American Indians in 1944. He also advocated for American Indians to receive U.S. citizenship.
Parker persuaded the Boy Scouts of America to designate a day to celebrate the “First Americans,” an observance that took place from 1912 to 1915.
In 1914, Native rights advocate the Rev. Red Fox James, a Blackfoot tribal citizen, embarked on a 4,000-mile horseback journey to Washington, D.C., to petition the president for an “Indian Day.” He presented endorsements from 24 governors to the White House. In 1919, he again petitioned the state of Washington to designate the fourth Saturday in September as an “Indian holiday.”
Opening of the renovated Native American exhibit at the Grnad Rapids Public Museum (Phoot/Levi Rickert)
On Sept. 28, 1915, President Calvin Coolidge issued a proclamation declaring the second Saturday in May American Indian Day. The proclamation also included the first formal appeal for Native Americans to be recognized as U.S. citizens.
Decades later, in 1976, Jerry C. Elliott (Osage-Cherokee), one of the first Native Americans to work at NASA, authored congressional legislation establishing the first Native American Awareness Week, observed Oct. 10-16.
In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed a joint congressional resolution designating November as “National American Indian Heritage Month.” Presidential proclamations recognizing the month have been issued annually since 1994.
Today, Native American Heritage Month provides an opportunity to recognize the histories, cultures, resilience, and contributions of the more than 575 federally recognized Tribal Nations, as well as Native communities across the United States. It is also a time to acknowledge the ongoing issues facing Indigenous peoples, including tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, voting rights, health care, education, and the protection of ancestral lands and natural resources.
Throughout the month, Native News Online will provide numerous articles to celebrate Native American Heritage Month.
A couple of months ago, I spoke with an Indian Residential School Survivor. We were discussing the impending destruction of the largest archive of Survivor testimony from the Independent Assessment Process (IAP).
He was one of the more than 38,000 Survivors who participated in the IAP in order to receive compensation for abuse in Indian Residential Schools. The fate of their IAP records - including applications, transcripts, audio recordings and decisions - were at the centre of a Supreme Court of Canada court case in 2017. The Supreme Court ruled that Survivor records from the IAP should be destroyed unless Survivors decided to opt-in to preserve them.
The Survivor told me that he didn’t remember if he had gotten a letter or email about his options following the Supreme Court decision. He knew that his records were set for destruction unless he chose to preserve them by the September 2027 deadline but admitted that he wasn’t sure what the process was.
It made me wonder exactly what the notice program consisted of and how it was informing Survivors about their rights.
Image from My Records, My Choice website
This summer, our team at the Indian Residential School Records Project, spent weeks scanning over 70 boxes of documents relating to litigation of Indian Residential Schools. Since then we have been combing through them, uncovering the story of the battle over the IAP records and how the notice program would roll out.
After reading through the documents, I understood why the Survivor I spoke to couldn’t recall if he had gotten a letter or email about his options for IAP records – it was because he was never sent one.
In fact, only 34 Survivors received letters about their IAP records.
The Tanner Deposition, an audio drama in three parts, is based on the deposition of Helen Hornbeck Tanner (1916-2011) for United States v. State of Michigan. Tanner’s testimony included pivotal evidence which helped Michigan’s Indian tribes reclaim treaty-protected fishing rights. Created and directed by Gretchen Carr, it is made possible through the generous support of the Leelanau Press Research Fellowship and the Leelanau Historical Society.
Introduction
In 1836, the United States Government and Michigan Indian tribes signed the Treaty of Washington. In this treaty, and in subsequent treaties, the tribes sought permanent land bases, along with securing their right to hunt, fish and gather, which they had done for centuries and continued to do so in the Great Lakes and inland waters.
That changed in 1872 when the Secretary of the Interior Columbus Delano illegally terminated treaty obligations without Congressional approval. In 1930 a Michigan Supreme Court decision erroneously interpreted treaty law in a decision that gave the State control over Indian hunting and fishing. This ruling led to decades of conflict, including violent clashes between Indian fishermen and state authorities.
Following a series of U.S. supreme court decisions in the 1960s, the United States filed a lawsuit against the State of Michigan in 1973 to reclaim these treaty-protected rights. This case entitled United States v. Michigan was filed in the U.S District Court for the Western District of Michigan. The Bay Mills Indian Community and Sault Saint Marie Tribe subsequently intervened as plaintiffs. In the years to follow, the Grand Traverse Band, Little River Band, and Little Traverse Bay Bands would also intervene as plaintiffs.
Their claims rested on two foundations: evidence of the tribes’ long-standing commercial fishing practices, and the legal principle that treaties be interpreted as their Indian signers would have understood them. To establish those facts, the tribes and the United States brought in a team of expert witnesses which included anthropologists, archaeologists and ethnohistorians.
Central to the case was the testimony of Dr. Helen Hornbeck Tanner. A senior research fellow at the Newberry Library. Tanner was known as one of the country’s foremost researchers of Great Lakes Indian history. Her research drew on federal land allotment records, genealogies, agent correspondence, missionary diaries, local histories, and oral tradition.
In depositions that took place in January and April of 1977, Tanner testified that the United States Senate altered the 1836 Treaty without prior consent, and that the 1855 treaty was fraudulent. She resisted the imposition of Anglo-American legal terminology on Indigenous history. The attorneys for the State of Michigan approached her with visible skepticism, and questioned her financial dependence on litigation to suggest bias. They dismissed oral tradition as unobjective, and they repeatedly pressed her to translate Indigenous concepts into rigid legal categories. Dr. Tanner’s unflinching testimony helped to prove that Great Lakes tribes had fished treaty waters for generations, and that the treaty language protected their traditional way of life.
In 1979, U.S. District Judge Noel Fox affirmed the tribes’ fishing rights. The ruling, known as the Fox Decision, sparked a resurgence of tribal organization in Michigan. Of all her service, Dr. Tanner considered her testimony in the United States versus Michigan to be the most significant of her career.
Cast
The Voice of Helen Hornbeck Tanner, Witness, Historian and Newberry Fellow is performed by Molly Tewson, who resides in Iowa and spends her summers at her family cottage on the north shore of Crystal Lake. She is the daughter of Dr. Tanner.
The Voice of Gregory T. Taylor, on behalf of the Defendant, State of Michigan is performed by John McKinley, who resides in Traverse City, Michigan.
The Voice of Stewart H. Freeman, on behalf of the Defendant, State of Michigan is performed by Barry Bricks, who resides in Benzie County, Michigan.
The Voice of Peter W. Steketee, on behalf of the Defendant, Michigan United Conservation Club, is performed by Bill Pilgrim who resides in Benzie County, Michigan.
The Introduction is performed by Mark L. Wilson.
Mark L. Wilson, MPA, is an audio and video producer based in Traverse City, Michigan, and an enrolled citizen of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. Through his company, New Leonard Media, he works with Tribal organizations, nonprofits, and artists to share their stories. He served two terms on the Grand Traverse Band Tribal Council, including as Vice Chair, has served as Mayor Pro Tem on the Traverse City Commission, and currently serves on numerous board and committees throughout the region.
The Epilogue is performed by Jeremy Rice.
Jeremy Rice resides in Northport, Michigan and is a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. He manages cultural resources with Dirt Divers Cultural Resource Management, a Native-owned cultural resource management firm based in Cass Lake, Minnesota.
Hey readers! It's Trace, your editor. I started this blog/website in 2010 to help adoptees like me navigate the waters and terrors of c...
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You are not alone
To Veronica Brown
Veronica, we adult adoptees are thinking of you today and every day. We will be here when you need us. Your journey in the adopted life has begun, nothing can revoke that now, the damage cannot be undone. Be courageous, you have what no adoptee before you has had; a strong group of adult adoptees who know your story, who are behind you and will always be so.
Diane Tells His Name
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Lost Birds on Al Jazeera Fault Lines
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NO MORE STOLEN SISTERS
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We conclude this series & continue the conversation by naming that adoption is genocide. This naming refers to the process of genocide that breaks kinship ties through adoption & other forms of family separation & policing 🧵#NAAM2022#AdoptionIsTraumaAND#AdopteeTwitter#FFY 1/6 pic.twitter.com/46v0mWISZ1
As the single largest unregulated industry in the United States, adoption is viewed as a benevolent action that results in the formation of “forever families.” The truth is that it is a very lucrative business with a known sales pitch. With profits last estimated at over $1.44 billion dollars a year, mothers who consider adoption for their babies need to be very aware that all of this promotion clouds the facts and only though independent research can they get an accurate account of what life might be like for both them and their child after signing the adoption paperwork.
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