Sen. Udall Holds Listening Session on Human Trafficking in Indian Country

Native News Online Staff

Vice Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Tom Udall - D - New Mexico

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, held a stakeholder meeting on ways to more effectively prevent, prosecute, and improve data collection on human trafficking in Indian Country. Federal data on human trafficking in Native communities is limited, but available information suggests human trafficking in the United States frequently targets vulnerable populations, which would include Native Americans who disproportionately face high rates of poverty and trauma. In order to address the shortage of information, the Indian Affairs committee requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) seek data on the prevalence of human trafficking in Native communities and research the frequency with which law enforcement agencies have encountered it, the services that are available to victims, demographic information, efforts to increase prosecutions, and other federal initiatives. 

 

Udall released the following statement:

 

"Human trafficking affects every community in the United States – regardless of age, gender, ethnicity and socio-economic background. And because Native Americans disproportionally face high rates of poverty and trauma, they are especially vulnerable and frequent targets of human trafficking. For years, Tribal leaders and Native activists have raised the issue of human trafficking with Congress. By sharing their powerful and often heart-breaking stories, they have elevated our awareness about the need for more information and more resources to combat the spread of human trafficking in Indian country.  

 

"But the fact is that the federal government knows very little about the rates of human trafficking on Tribal lands. And it knows even less about human trafficking of individual Native Americans. After reviewing these GAO reports, it is clear that the true extent of human trafficking in Indian Country remains unknown. But it is also clear to me that the federal government could do more to help Native victims who are slipping through the cracks. Congress must take a long, hard look at how federal agencies collect and monitor data on this issue, ensure their accountability, and then work to provide federal and Tribal law enforcement agencies with enough resources to keep Indian Country safe. The administration’s proposed cuts to federal law enforcement agencies and Tribal programs would only further strain public safety initiatives on Tribal lands. Instead of jeopardizing Native communities by cutting policing and justice budgets, Congress should look for new ways to get funding resources to Tribes.

 

"Like with other crimes in Indian Country, addressing human trafficking will require Congress to look at and pass legislation that addresses issues of jurisdiction and inter-agency cooperation, and I’m hopeful that we can work together to provide Tribes with more resources to combat human trafficking and ensure that all Native victims of crime get the support they so desperately need."

The REAL ID ACT is already here?

by Lauren Hannula on May 22, 2013

 

The REAL ID Act: Are You Ready for a National ID?

Sample of the new REAL ID for Wisconsin

People throughout the country might see some big changes happening to their driver’s licenses and state IDs. As of February 2013, 19 states have demonstrated compliance with the REAL ID Act, a piece of legislature that imposes much stricter measures on how people can obtain a driver’s license, and sets more thorough standards as to what will be displayed on them. Called the new “national ID,” the REAL ID Act has gained some traction in light of recent events like the Boston Marathon bombings.
But what exactly is the REAL ID Act, and how will it affect drivers across the nation?

The History of REAL ID

After 9/11, the federal government began to look at ways to increase security surrounding state identification cards and driver’s licenses, in an attempt to prevent further terrorism and/or unlawful entry into and out of the country.
In 2005, the House of Representatives passed a bill into law called the REAL ID Act. This Act would set certain federal standards upon all driver’s licenses, which are currently regulated by each individual state. After being passed into law, the bill was tabled until 2007, when it was announced that the federal enforcement of the act would be postponed for a period of two years. However, many state governments were slow to support this act, feeling that it not only infringed upon states’ rights handed to them by the 10th Amendment, but also created unnecessary cost to taxpayers in order to implement the change. It wasn’t until this year that the federal government announced that all states would need to be in compliance with the REAL ID Act by the end of 2017.

Immigration, Adoptees and The Identity Police: The REAL ID ACT of 2005

By Trace Hentz, Blog Editor

Have you tried to get a driver's license recently? I spoke to a cousin in Illinois who was not given a driver's license (renewal) but a piece of paper instead. She is not adopted. The Illinois Motor Vehicles people told her they are doing a background check first then will mail it to her. (My cousin has lived in Illinois all her life and she is over 60.)
WHAT IS HAPPENING?
We have seen this coming. (I was worried in 2005 when I went to get a passport and had to mail them my fake birth certificate.)
In 2011, Leland Morrill wrote this Facebook post on his concerns about the lack of original birth certificates for many Native adoptees like him. Leland did not have a birth certificate but a Certificate of No Birth Record.
READ HERE 

Leland contributed to the book series Lost Children of the Indian Adoption Projects. In the first book TWO WORLDS he shared he had not found his mother or father and was adopted by Mormons. In the second book CALLED HOME he found his mother's family. In STOLEN GENERATIONS, the third book, he found and met all his clans and his father.

Each year for an adoptee, information can drip drip drip and finally come. It's not a fast process. Each piece of paper helps.
You have two parents and two family trees. Never give up hope of finding the paperwork and the people.

ALSO::: If you adopted a child, request their adoption file as soon as possible. If you signed these documents you have the right to have a certified copy of the adoption proceedings and court documents. You and your adopted child will need ALL this information, when they reach adulthood. If you adopted a child from another country, did you get them their US citizenship records? If not, they could be deported. It is that serious.

If you do not have documentation of any kind, call the local FBI right now and explain your situation and remind them of the REAL ID ACT - and how it affects you as an adoptee.

Human Trafficking in Indian Country

The General Accounting Office has published a report, HUMAN TRAFFICKING: Information on Cases in Indian Country or that Involved Native Americans.

Human trafficking—the exploitation of

a person typically through force, fraud,

or coercion for such purposes as

forced labor, involuntary servitude or

commercial sex

—is occurring in the

United States and

involves vulnerable

populations. Native Americans are

considered a vulnerable population

because of high rates of poverty and

abuse, and other factors. GAO was

asked to research human trafficking

taking place in Indian country and

trafficking of Native American persons

regardless of where they are located in

the United States

.

PDF

NOTE: If you are an adoptee and do not have papers, and your adoptive parents have died CONTACT THE FBI immediately. Many adoptions were done by private attorneys and you could be a victim of human trafficking and were sold into adoption. 

https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/victims-human-trafficking-other-crimes
 

Who Holds Your Truth?

TRIBAL JUSTICE DOCUMENTARY: reexamine the current definition of justice in America

New PBS Documentary on Native American Judges Focuses on Rehabilitative Justice

TV News Desk 

"We are village people. We have village values. And those values compel us to take care of each other, our families and our country," says Abby Abinanti, chief judge of the Yurok Tribal Court and the first Native American woman admitted to the State Bar of California. Tribal Justice spotlights tribal courts that incorporate indigenous customs and beliefs into their justice systems. The film follows Abby Abinanti and Claudette White, chief judges in two of the more than 300 tribal courts across the country, as they navigate cross-jurisdictional issues in their courts and communities.

Tribal Justice has its national broadcast premiere on the PBS documentary series POV (Point of View) on Monday, August 21, 2017. POV is American television's longest-running independent documentary series, now in its 30th season.  

TRAILER: http://www.pbs.org/pov/tribaljustice/

White is the chief judge of the Quechan Tribal Court in the Southern California desert. She says the affiliated tribe has been "vastly diminished," but never removed from its homeland. "We have a lot of social ills in our community based on our location and the limitation to services," she says. "In my capacity as chief judge, what I'm fighting for is our people, our independence, our sovereignty, our existence."

White sees Abinanti as a mentor, and both women are focused on restoring their communities rather than punishing offenders. The Yurok and Quechan tribes are the two largest in California. Each faces its own unique issues, but Abinanti and White share the goal of increasing safety and decreasing incarceration in an effort to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline. Both judges are passionate about preserving their cultures and creating new pathways to justice for families dealing with historical trauma and intergenerational addiction.

"You guys could be leaders in our community or you could help destroy our community," White tells two teenage boys in her court.

Studies show that rural areas and American Indian reservations are plagued by the manufacturing, trafficking and use of crystal methamphetamine. Reservations are targeted by non-Native drug cartels. Native Americans have the highest meth usage of any ethnic group in the nation, resulting in extremely high crime and incarceration rates. Abinanti remarks, "The state has a lot of responsibility for all the people. I have responsibility to one set of people-6,000 Yuroks and their families. And that's what I'm responsible for: for that and for this land."

Viewers first meet Taos Proctor, a large and gregarious young man, in Abinanti's tribal court in 2013. While out on parole from San Quentin State Prison, Proctor was arrested with methamphetamine on his person; he is facing a third-strike conviction and 25 years to life in prison. Over two years, the film follows Abinanti and her staff as they take on Proctor's case and help him to complete court programs and rebuild his life.

A thousand miles to the south, White invokes the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 to reunite an autistic and epileptic 9-year-old boy with his family. She also takes on a more personal case when she becomes the legal guardian to her troubled teenage nephew, Isaac Palone. Palone has recently left a group home and faces two felony charges for breaking into cars; his case is in state court rather than tribal court, and he is at risk of beginning a life shuttling in and out of prison.

Tribal Justice contradicts the entrenched mainstream narrative that depicts Native Americans as locked in hopeless circumstances as their tribes vanish. Abinanti and White's struggles and triumphs tell a different story, one of strong female leaders working alongside their people to affirm tribal sovereignty and break free of the systems of poverty and inequality confronting Native Americans today.

Director Anne Makepeace says that she was immediately moved by the two judges upon meeting them in 2013 and felt that audiences needed to know about their work. "I realized the film would educate a broad audience about something few Americans know about-tribal courts-and that it could have a tremendous positive impact on our criminal justice system."

"Tribal Justice challenges viewers to reexamine the current definition of justice in America," says POV executive producer Justine Nagan. "Through the often personal experiences of two powerful women striving to elevate their people through the tribal court process, Anne Makepeace gives us the opportunity to watch a rarely seen justice system effectively at work."

SOURCE

'It's a way of moving forward': Innu leaders praise announcement of inquiry into children in care

Innu leaders say there needs to be more of an effort to keep troubled Aboriginal children in Labrador, with treatment that includes a focus on their culture and roots.
The removal of children from their homes in Labrador has also been flagged by the province's child and youth advocate who has called for a new community-based approach to child welfare in the region.
In March, CBC News reported that 265 children from Labrador were living in foster care — including many from Inuit communities who had been sent to foster homes on the island of Newfoundland.

Uprooted: Why so many of Labrador's children are in foster care so far away from home

In Natuashish, a community of 963 people, there are 60 children in care of provincial government agencies.
Sheshashiu, the other Innu community in Labrador, with a population of 671, had 90 children in care.

"This is unacceptable that your children are being taken from you," Carolyn Bennett told him at the time. "We are going to change it."

Source: 'It's a way of moving forward': Innu leaders praise announcement of inquiry into children in care - Newfoundland & Labrador - CBC News

Powwows, rodeos, homecomings today

How do Indians observe the 4th of July? Do we celebrate? 

To answer, let’s turn back the pages of time. A reasonable chapter to begin in is July 1776, when the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence and 13 colonies became the United States of America. With the emergence of a nation interested in expanding its territory came the issue of what to do with American Indians. History tells us that as the American non-Indian population increased, the indigenous population greatly decreased, along with their homelands and cultural freedoms.

From the beginning, U.S. government policy contributed to culture and land loss. Keeping our focus on the 4th of July, however, let’s jump to the early 1880s, when Secretary of the Interior Henry Teller developed what has come to be called the Religious Crimes Code—regulations at the heart of the Department of Interior, Office of Indian Affairs, Code of Indian Offenses that prohibited American Indian ceremonial life.

Bottom of Form

Teller’s general guidelines to all Indian agents were to end tribal dances and feasts. Enforced on reservations, the code banned Indian ceremonies, disrupted religious practices, and destroyed or confiscated sacred objects. Indian ceremonial activities were prohibited under threat of imprisonment and/or the withholding of treaty rations.

The Secretary of the Interior issued this Code of Regulations in 1884, 1894, and 1904 through Indian Affairs Commissioner’s circulars and Indian agent directives. Indian superintendents and agents implemented the code until the mid-1930s. During this 50-year period, Indian spiritual ceremonies such as the Sun Dance and Ghost Dance were held in secret or ceased to exist. Some have since been revived or reintroduced by Indian tribes.

KEEP READING 

All across Indian country, tribes hold modern celebrations— including powwows, rodeos, and homecomings—that coincide with the United States’ Independence Day celebrations. 

READ July 4th Facts 

Indian Humor

History: Britain’s Futile Attempt to Keep American Colonists From Taking Tribal Land

A Unique Moment in American Mapmaking

In a futile attempt to keep American colonists from taking tribal land, British surveyors and Native American leaders drew a border along the Appalachian Mountains. Then the Revolutionary War happened.

***

In the 1760s, the government in Britain was taking a new approach to its vast colonial holdings, and in 1763, colonial governors and tribal leaders met in Fort Augusta, Georgia, for the first of 10 congresses at which they negotiated a geographic separation. The king had ordered that there should be a limit to colonial expansion—if a tribe claimed a stretch of land, a colonial governor was not supposed to grant it to settlers. The Fort Augusta meeting began with the tribal representatives describing what they believed to be the extent of their territory. Over the course of several congresses, the diplomats agreed on a boundary between tribal lands and the seaboard colonies. This negotiated line was supposed to limit conflict for the foreseeable future.

LINK 

***

Royal Proclamation of 1763 (wiki)

The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War, which forbade all settlement past a line drawn along the Appalachian