{"id":37088,"date":"2024-05-21T16:13:17","date_gmt":"2024-05-21T21:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/noem-doubles-down-on-cartel-talk-asks-tribes-to-partner-with-state\/"},"modified":"2024-05-21T16:13:20","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T21:13:20","slug":"noem-doubles-down-on-cartel-talk-asks-tribes-to-partner-with-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/noem-doubles-down-on-cartel-talk-asks-tribes-to-partner-with-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Noem doubles down on cartel talk, asks tribes to partner with state"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gov. Kristi Noem, flanked by advisers and law enforcement officials, speaks on May 17, 2024, at the Capitol in Pierre. Visible from left to right around Noem are Tribal Relations Secretary David Flute, Dewey County Sheriff Ashley Arpan and Tribal Law Enforcement Liaison Algin Young. (John Hult\/South Dakota Searchlight)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

PIERRE \u2014 At the end of a week in which two more tribal nations voted to ban her from their lands, Gov. Kristi Noem called on tribal leaders to partner with state law enforcement to battle drug activity on reservations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The governor was flanked by her tribal relations secretary and newly hired tribal law enforcement liaison. She spoke next to a poster-sized quote on the influence of drug cartels in Indian Country from Oglala Sioux Tribal Chairman Frank Star Comes Out. The same quote, delivered in December to congressional leaders in Washington, D.C., was also displayed on a big-screen television in the Capitol\u2019s Rushmore Room prior to the start of the press conference.<\/p>\n

In the comment, Star Comes Out noted that his tribe is reliant on insufficient federal funding for public safety. \u201cWe believe this federal neglect has resulted in the cartel moving on to our reservation, an increase in overdoses, and a proliferation of guns on our school properties,\u201d he said, in part.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

The governor again called on tribes to \u201cbanish the cartels\u201d instead of voting to banish her, as government bodies at eight of the nine tribes in the state\u00a0have now done<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She also pledged to help the tribes with public safety issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cBanishing me does absolutely nothing to solve this problem,\u201d Noem said. \u201cAll it does is help those who are perpetuating horrible violence and crimes against the people that are citizens of the state of South Dakota.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former tribal police chief: \u2018We need help\u2019<\/p>\n

Tribal Relations Secretary Dave Flute, a member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, read off a series of comments he said the governor\u2019s office has received by the hundreds from tribal members.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernor Noem is speaking the truth of what is happening across the state, including in our tribal communities,\u201d Flute said. \u201cShe\u2019s speaking out because she cares about the safety of our people. But don\u2019t take it from her. And don\u2019t take it from me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flute read comments from people who, in turn, accused tribal council members of being \u201csome of the biggest drug dealers on the reservation,\u201d described being targeted by cartel members in a casino, said cartel members have posed as dairy farm workers and said that tribal leaders \u2014 those who have voted to ban the governor \u2014 do not speak for all tribal members.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Noem\u00a0announced her hiring<\/a>\u00a0of Algin Young, formerly the Oglala Sioux Tribe police chief, as her tribal law enforcement liaison. The longtime Indian Country law officer told the assembled reporters that he supports Noem because of his experience leading an overworked, understaffed department working to fend off a spike in violence.<\/p>\n

He said the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety, in search of a new permanent chief since his contract expired last month, was averaging \u201ctwo and a half gun calls a day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI take the position of the governor, because her position is that we need help,\u201d Young said.<\/p>\n

Federal issue<\/p>\n

Noem and the others on hand, including sheriffs from two counties with reservations in their borders, tied public safety troubles to federal inaction and a lack of funding for law enforcement.<\/p>\n

The governor told reporters she\u2019d just returned from a trip Thursday to the U.S.-Mexico border, where 20 South Dakota National Guard members are currently working in the latest of several state missions there since Noem took office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Noem has been speaking about alleged connections between the border, cartels and reservations since January, when she returned from another trip to the border and\u00a0delivered a speech<\/a>\u00a0to a joint session of the Legislature.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Illegal narcotics like methamphetamine and fentanyl flow across that border and into the United States under the direction of drug cartels, she said, as do criminal actors bent on profiting through drugs and violence.<\/p>\n

President Joe Biden\u2019s policies are to blame, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen an infiltration of dangerous individuals, people that have come into this country that are on the known terrorist watch list,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople that have been incarcerated in other countries that are perpetuating violence against others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noem and others said that drugs and violence have been an issue for the whole of South Dakota, but that the influence has been particularly impactful for reservations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t just affect the United States,\u201d said Sen. Mike Walsh, R-Rapid City, a former narcotics detective who accompanied Noem to the border. \u201cIt affects South Dakota directly. And it was evident as we spoke with the Border Patrol, as we spoke with the soldiers that see it every day. They see the changes that have occurred in the past few years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Law enforcement training<\/p>\n

The federal government has also failed Indian Country by failing to fully fund treaty-mandated law enforcement obligations, Noem argued. She pointed out that the Oglala Sioux Tribe\u00a0has sued<\/a>\u00a0the federal government for that failure, and she referenced her\u00a0recent decision<\/a>\u00a0to fund a special training academy specifically for tribal recruits.<\/p>\n

Noem said between 13 and 15 recruits have expressed interest in the summer training course, and that \u201cwe\u2019ll have a full class.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most officers in reservation communities are expected to attend a 13-week training academy in Artesia, New Mexico. Tribal officers can and do get trained in South Dakota, but there are limited slots in basic training courses, and even those who complete state training are expected to spend two weeks in Artesia afterward.<\/p>\n

For the new course, set to begin on June 3, Bureau of Indian Affairs officials have agreed to come to South Dakota to offer a two-day version of that two-week portion of the training.<\/p>\n

U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds and Rep. Dusty Johnson, both Republicans, urged the BIA to do that. Both have pushed to place a permanent BIA training facility for the Great Plains in South Dakota.<\/p>\n

About 10 minutes before the Friday press conference in Pierre, Rounds\u2019 office sent a press release on tribal law enforcement funding. In it, the senator said he\u2019d joined 11 of his colleagues in sending\u00a0a letter<\/a>\u00a0to the Senate Appropriations Interior Subcommittee urging the members to \u201csupport robust funding for Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Public Safety and Justice Law Enforcement programs\u201d in the fiscal year 2025 budget. South Dakota Republican John Thune was among the signers.<\/p>\n

\u201cTribal law enforcement agencies have been under-resourced and under-staffed for decades and they are now being asked to face a new, dangerous threat posed by these cartels and criminal organizations,\u201d the senators wrote.<\/p>\n

Relationships damaged<\/p>\n

The press conference followed a troubled two weeks of tribal relations for Noem. Early last week, the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate \u2013 for which Flute was once chairman \u2013 voted to ban Noem from its lands. As with the tribes that had voted to ban her prior to the Sisseton vote, tribal leaders tagged the\u00a0governor\u2019s comments<\/a>\u00a0at a March town hall in Winner alleging that tribal officials are \u201cpersonally benefiting\u201d from cartels. Tribal leaders have also cited\u00a0comments<\/a>\u00a0from a March town hall in Mitchell, where Noem said Native American children on reservations lack hope, and that their parents aren\u2019t there for them.<\/p>\n

A few days after the Sisseton-Wahpeton tribe voted to ban Noem, the Business and Claims Committee of the Yankton Sioux Tribe\u00a0voted to endorse a ban<\/a>. This week\u00a0saw votes to ban<\/a>\u00a0the governor by the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe and the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, the latter of which had opted not to endorse a ban earlier this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe is the only one of the state\u2019s nine Native nations that has yet to cast such a vote. Its leadership\u00a0set an emergency meeting<\/a>\u00a0for Saturday to discuss the possibility of a ban.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Friday, Noem repeated a line she\u2019s used in past discussions on the issue: that she keeps calling tribes, and they keep ignoring her.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey all have my personal cell phone number,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The governor has repeatedly said that she wants to help through mutual law enforcement aid, noting that Native nations in South Dakota struggle with jurisdictional challenges that prevent tribal police from enforcing state law and state police from enforcing tribal law. The posterboard quote from President Star Comes Out referenced the same challenge.<\/p>\n

Noem rattled off a list of mutual aid agreements outside the law enforcement realm on Friday, ranging from tax collection agreements to child support payment distribution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Pine Ridge alone, our Game Fish and Parks conservation officers conduct joint operations with tribal COs all the time,\u201d Noem said. \u201cLaw enforcement mutual aid agreements will go a long way to help restore safety and order.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked Friday how she intends to repair relationships, the governor pointed to Flute and Young. Those advisers have faced tribal issues from positions of tribal authority, just like the leaders now voting to ban her.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve sat in their shoes,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been there and seen the challenges. And I\u2019m open to new ideas. If they want to sign an agreement that looks different than what the state has done before, I\u2019m all ears.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tribal leader responds<\/p>\n

South Dakota Searchlight reached out Friday to leaders of all the tribes that have voted to ban the governor, but did not hear back from most immediately.<\/p>\n

Lower Brule Sioux Tribal Chairman Clyde Estes said what stood out most from the press conference was its ending, when a reporter asked Noem if she had any intention of apologizing for her remarks about Native American children.<\/p>\n

That particular comment was a last straw moment for Estes.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe heard the question and walked out,\u201d Estes said.<\/p>\n

As far as her offer of mutual law enforcement aid, he said \u201cwe would be far from that path.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe it\u2019s the state\u2019s role to provide law enforcement when we have contracts with the federal government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Estes said Noem is right about the federal government not upholding its obligation to provide law enforcement, but he said Noem, as a former member of Congress, shares some of the blame for that.<\/p>\n

He also said it\u2019s unclear what Noem means by \u201cbanish the cartels.\u201d Lower Brule has banished \u201cfive or six\u201d non-tribal members during his time in tribal government for committing crimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow are we supposed to banish the cartel when we don\u2019t even know who they are, let alone is that going to stop them from coming onto our reservation?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Even so, he said there is an opening for Noem to improve relations, and he believes it has to start with an apology for her remarks about children.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she\u2019s ready to apologize, we\u2019re ready to sit down and talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: This story has been updated since its original publication with the addition of comments from Lower Brule Tribal Chairman Clyde Estes.<\/p>\n

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Noem doubles down on cartel talk, asks tribes to partner with state<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n