A Decades-Old Law Protecting Native Americans from Family Separation Is Under Threat
A Texas judge deemed the Indian Child Welfare Act unconstitutional.
BY GABRIELLE BRUNEY
OCT 14, 2018

The Trump administration’s continued practice of separating immigrant families at the border has rightfully sparked widespread outrage. But the policy is part of a pattern of family separation that spans American history, from the enslaved children sold away from their parents, to the Mexican-American families separated by mass deportations during the Great Depression. Native American kids also have suffered generations of removal from their homes, often to be placed in white families or Anglo institutions. And quietly, lost amid the constant noise of a deafening news cycle, a law designed to protect Native kids from being ripped from their communities has come under threat, as a Texas judge ruled the Indian Child Welfare Act unconstitutional.
Before the ICWA was adopted 40 years ago, researchers found that between 25 and 35 percent of Native American children were being removed from their homes, and 85 percent of these kids were being placed with white families or institutions. The law bolsters the rights of Native families—case workers must make an "active effort" to keep families in tact. It prioritizes placing Native children in the foster care or adoption systems first with family members, then with others in their tribe, then with Native families across the country. Non-Native people aren’t banned from adopting Native children, but must demonstrate "good cause" as to why the child cannot be cared for by Native Americans.
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Supreme Court set for major showdown in tribal sovereignty case
Thursday, October 11, 2018

With one tribe's sovereignty at stake, the battle lines are being drawn in one of the most consequential U.S. Supreme Court cases in recent history.
The justices will hear Carpenter v. Murphy on November 27. The outcome in the closely-watched dispute will determine whether the reservation of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation continues to exist.
But the tribe won't be able to count on the expertise of one key member of the court as it defends the reservation from an "all-out assault" by the state of Oklahoma. That's because Justice Neil Gorsuch, whose nomination drew unprecedented support in Indian Country last year, has consistently bowed out of all proceedings in the matter.
Gorsuch did not participate in the high court's May 21 decision to grant the Carpenter petition even though he has direct experience in reservation boundary cases. In his prior role as a federal appellate judge, he ruled in favor of the Ute Tribe in a long-running dispute with the state of Utah.
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The current understanding of ‘hate groups’ excludes those who undermine tribal rights and sovereignty.
By Anna V. Smith - High Country News  / HCN.org
Friday, October 12, 2018 

'A hopeful future': Addressing Native youth in the justice system
Friday, September 21, 2018 

A new report from the Government Accountability Office is highlighting the challenges facing young Native Americans who end up in the justice system.
In the first study of its kind, the GAO found that more than 105,000 American Indians and Alaska Natives under the age of 18 were arrested between 2010 and 2016. The vast majority of the arrests took place at the state and local level, according to the data.
In 2016, for example, more than 11,000 young Natives were arrested by state and local authorities, compared to just 20 in the federal system.
But the data showed that Native Americans were overrepresented at the federal level. Of all federal youth arrests between 2010 and 2016, 18 percent were Native, according to the report, even though they comprise just 1.6 percent of the nationwide population.
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