Call to Federal Government to Change Existing, Discriminatory Law Urges Next U.S. President to Make Immigration Issue a Top Priority
PHOENIX—October 20, 2008— The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), the largest and oldest Indian organization in the country, along with the Tohono O’odham Nation, highlighted homeland security, border protection and its financial affects on tribes at a press conference during its 65th Annual Convention and Tradeshow in Phoenix.
“Tribes simply are not getting homeland security funds they need from the federal government,” said NCAI President Joe A. Garcia. “Until this year, the Department of Homeland Security awarded grants to only the states and the states decided how to dole out the money and the funds are not reaching the tribes. This is an outrage.”
The Tohono O’odham Nation spends millions of dollars to protect the U.S. border, its tribal citizens and its land from illegal immigrants who bring high crime and drug and human trafficking.
“The Tohono O’odham Nation continues to spend millions of dollars annually to protect U.S. interests on the border without any significant reimbursement from the federal government,” said Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Ned Norris, Jr. “Other tribes across the country are experiencing similar problems and this is simply unacceptable. This is a federal government problem and it needs a federal government solution.”
President Garcia said, “NCAI was developed so that tribes across the country would have a place to come together, work together and make change happen together. This issue is a perfect example of how NCAI can be used as a vehicle of change. Criminal activity along the border has massive impacts on Indian Country and NCAI is doing everything possible to create a coalition of tribes to express grievances and find solutions to the problems.”
Representatives of tribes and tribal organizations were present at the conference and spoke on the tremendous fiscal, cultural, social, and environmental impacts border activities continue to have on Indian Country.
Ned Norris Jr., Chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation, called for action by the federal government to aid tribes who are faced with spending their own resources to pay for the federal responsibility of protecting the border. Norris said, “The Tohono O’odham Nation continues to spend millions of dollars annually to protect U.S. interests on the border without any significant reimbursement from the federal government. Other Tribes across the country are experiencing similar problems and this is simply unacceptable. This is a federal government problem and it needs a federal government solution.”
Verlon Jose, Chairman of the Tohono O’odham Legislative Council, provided additional insight into the dramatic increases in border-related violence in recent months.
“Natives have been here since time immemorial so as Tribes, Nations, Pueblos, First People we are older than the United States, Mexico or Canada,” said Jose. “But we are now fighting to protect the homelands from drug smugglers and human traffickers on the man-made borders crossing our ancestral lands. We stand to protect Indian and non-Indian communities alike. The O'odham defend the basic human rights of all native people to practice our cultures and traditions, and to live in harmony as the Creator intended us to, on the ancestral lands we never abandoned and are taught to respect and protect.”
Representatives of the tribes called for changes in federal law so that tribes are eligible to get funding to cover the costs of illegal drug and alien smuggling. Tribes also want to be included in discussions on illegal drug and alien smuggling with the Department of Homeland Security.
