A Tribe’s Bitter Purge Brings an Unusual Request: Federal Intervention
The New York Times
After cutting 306 people from its rolls, the Nooksack tribe is moving to evict those who remain in tribal housing. The dispute has raised questions about individual rights and tribal sovereignty.
EVERSON, Wash. — In the snow-packed driveway of Saturnino Javier’s home, a dozen extended family members gathered last week with drums formed from cedar and animal skin, intoning the prayerful songs they had learned growing up in the Nooksack Indian Tribe.
For decades, Mr. Javier and his family have seen the tribe in northern Washington State as their people, their home. But they are now among more than 300 people who are being disowned by the tribe, on the losing end of a bitter disenrollment battle that has torn apart families and left dozens of people facing eviction in the middle of the coldest Washington winter in years.
In recent days, the tribe has mobilized its police force to begin removing Mr. Javier, who lives with his three children, and others from their tribal homes, after having already cut off educational aid, health services, financial stipends — and whatever remained of what was once an expansive sense of community.
