As the fentanyl crisis ravages Native American communities, some of their leaders want Indian police and courts to go after non-tribal dealers. But they can't without getting permission from Congress.

As fentanyl addiction and overdose deaths ravage Native American communities, some tribal leaders want Indian law enforcement to take drug enforcement more into their own hands.

“We can’t wait anymore,” Jamie Azure, chairman of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, told the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in November. “We are very close to losing a generation to an opioid, to a synthetic drug.”

Tribal leaders testified about an insufficient response by state and federal law enforcement to the drug traffickers who bring fentanyl onto reservations. Azure said his tribe was moving ahead with its own “tribal drug task force.”

But tribal law enforcement is limited in what it can do. Because of the landmark 1978 Supreme Court ruling Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, tribal courts are not allowed to prosecute non-American Indians for most crimes — including drug trafficking.

  • Nougat@kbin.social
    2·
    4 months ago

    Not saying you’re wrong, but – it turns out that more people with indigenous North American heritage prefer to be called “Indians,” followed by “Native Americans,” and then “Other.” I still think “Native Americans” is the best general term, but even that papers over the vast array of different indigenous nations on the continent.