4 days ago
Local legislators back tribe's declaration of emergency
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — Two of South Dakota's lawmakers who represent the area have written a formal letter of support for the state of public safety emergency declared by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe president.
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Democratic Rep. Eric Emery and Republican Rep. Rebecca Reimer signed the letter sent June 2 to RST President Kathleen Wooden Knife.
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President Wooden Knife's May 27 proclamation follows previous emergency declarations in August 2019 and August 2024.
The current proclamation is featured on the Rosebud Sioux Tribe government website and cites 'pervasive law and order and public health issues related to the epidemic of meth and illicit drug use, drug trafficking, and gun related violence and other violent and unlawful activity creating severe and extreme threats to public safety, the health and welfare of the general public.'
In her proclamation, President Wooden Knife calls on the U.S. government, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of the Interior and the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs 'to honor their legal, statutory, trust and treaty obligations to provide sufficient resources for competent law enforcement patrol, reporting and investigations (of) criminal activity.'
The letter from Emery and Reimer thanks Wooden Knife and says they are honored to stand beside her effort. Emery, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, represents the southern portion of the legislative district that includes the Rosebud Indian Reservation, while Reimer represents the district's northern part.
'We commend your decisive leadership in addressing this crisis and your administration'swillingness to take action in a time of immense difficulty. It takes courage to confront suchchallenges head-on, and your focus on protecting your people is both necessary anddeeply respected,' their letter states.
'As representatives of our communities, made up of families, elders, first responders,educators, and caregivers, we understand that this crisis reaches far beyond public impacts the well-being of the people in every way and calls for a unified, sustainedresponse rooted in compassion, cultural respect, and community-focused action,' the letter continues.
U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, a former governor of South Dakota, has been pushing the federal government for a second tribal law enforcement training center to be placed somewhere in the Great Plains region.
Then-Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, provided funding last year for some tribal law officers to receive training through a state course conducted under the state Office of Attorney General. She later held a summit on tribal law enforcement and urged then-U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, a Democrat, to take action on tribal public safety.
Noem had been temporarily banned from all nine reservations in South Dakota after a speech to the Legislature last year in which she said drug cartels were using reservations as protection and for other remarks that tribal leaders said were offensive. Noem in turn called for law enforcement agreements between tribal and state governments.
The Oglala Sioux Tribe, which neighbors the Rosebud reservation, has twice sued the federal government over inadequate law enforcement on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Rounds also recently called for creation of a federal commission on violent crimes committed on tribal reservations.
Republican U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, who holds South Dakota's lone U.S. House seat, in March urged that 'waste, fraud, and abuse of funds for Indian country' be examined by the federal government.
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