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Native American Tribes

Native American tribe's eviction plan raises civil rights concerns. Should US government intervene?

The Nooksack evictions target people who have been disenrolled – that is, removed from tribal membership – in recent years after tribal leadership concluded they weren't valid members.

Bill Keveney
USA TODAY
  • The U.S. government's involvement makes the Nooksack matter stand out, legal experts said.
  • The evictions are the latest in a decade-long dispute over disenrollment of members from the tribe.
  • The U.S. government is focused on the evictions, and not disenrollment.

A Washington state tribe's plan to evict disenrolled members from federally assisted tribal housing pits two lauded values against each other: U.S. government responsibility for protecting civil rights and Native American tribal sovereignty.

Two U.S. government agencies have urged the Nooksack Indian Tribe to delay eviction plans, which could affect 63 people in 21 tribal homes, while the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs investigates "extremely concerning allegations of potential Civil Rights Act and Indian Civil Rights Act violations regarding these evictions," according to a letter sent to the tribe in late December.