Former Miss Snow Queen Doubles Down on Fight With Indian Tribes

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has escalated her fight with two Native American tribes over highway checkpoints. Earlier this month, Noem threatened to sue the tribes to remove checkpoints they had set up on state and federal highways to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on their reservations.  When that didn't work, Noem sent a letter to Donald Trump, the Justice Department, the Interior Department, and the members of her state's congressional delegation asking for help in making the tribes do what she says (imagine her stomping her foot).

 Throughout the pandemic, Noem has refused to let municipal governments issue stay at home orders and other public health measures she didn't like, so clearly, the tribes' defiance couldn't be allowed to stand, either.

The checkpoints were put in place on a number of state and federal roads by the Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes to help enforce their own public health measures. The tribes argue that 19th Century federal treaties give tribal leaders sole authority to regulate who can and cannot come onto their land. The tribes, understandably, want to avoid a horrific outbreak like the one that has hit the Navajo Nation in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, which now has the highest per capita rate of infection in the country.

In her original ultimatum to the tribes, Noem waved around a memorandum from the Bureau of Indian Affairs saying the tribes can only restrict traffic on federal and state highways after reaching an agreement with the state. Noem gave the tribes 48 hours to remove the checkpoints or she'd sue them in federal court.  Of course, the tribes called her bluff.  Darn tribes!

In her letter to Trump, posted to the state's COVID-19 website, Noem claims that the tribes are basically doing kidnapping or something; she claims that "interrogations of travelers" are being conducted, and that since some travelers may be turned away based on their answers at the checkpoints, the tribes are imposing an illegal "blockade" of state and federal roads.

In her letter, Noem says the tribes' claims of sovereignty based on treaty rights are invalid, because supposedly the tribes waived those rights when the roads were built in the last century. (She cites the easements from the 1950s to 1970s as support.).  Most experts say that's wrong.

Noems says that her "science" tells her that the checkpoints are actually dangerous: 

Based on the science we have today, we cannot stop the COVID-19 virus. The checkpoints/blockades actually increase the risk of speeding up the transmission of the COVID-19 virus to the reservations and increasing the frequency of exposure as tribal members interact with travelers that would otherwise pass through the reservation. Accordingly, there is no legal nor scientific basis for the CRST checkpoints/blockades.

So let's get this straight-- brief interactions at checkpoints (wearing masks) will expose tribe members more than allowing unrestricted traffic onto the reservation?  Let's see the scientific report on that!

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe spokesperson Remi Bald Eagle said Noem had sent a plan to the tribe proposing solutions to the impasse, and the tribe had been considering the feasibility of Noem's proposals when she prematurely escalated the fight by going to the Trump administration.

"We were working on that, and we told her that we would," Bald Eagle said. "Next thing you know, she runs off and does something like this, so it's a little confusing."

Bald Eagle told Indian Country Today that since Noem's letter was sent only to federal officials and not to the tribe, the tribe would "just have to wait and see what the feds do."  "We are going to continue to do our checkpoints until they're no longer a necessary part of our emergency response plan," he added.

Cheyenne River tribal chair Frazier has said the roadblocks are essential to making sure the tribe's health center, which has only eight beds and no ICU facilities, isn't overwhelmed. The nearest hospital able to provide the critical care needed for COVID-19 is three hours away from the reservation.

Noem's inability to win a fight she herself started has now attracted further attention.  Last week, a third tribe, the Rosebud Sioux, announced it too was setting up highway checkpoints as part of its extension of the public health lockdown.  Earlier this week, the tribe said five checkpoints were in place. Noem's letter reference the Rosebud Sioux Tribe's actions, but she'll probably get around to it.

Noem also loves playing up her loyalty to Trump, and seems to be calculating that a fight with the tribes is good politics, so expect this stupid posturing to continue.