BIA Accused Of Creating 'Imposter' Calif. Tribe
Nicolas Villa Jr., who said he is the leader of the Historic Ione Band of Miwok Indians Tribe — which is also named as a plaintiff, in addition to similarly situated members — filed suit against the two agencies and BIA Pacific Regional Director Amy Dutschke, accusing Dutschke of using her power within the agency to create and illegally direct federal and state benefits to an “imposter tribe.”
According to the complaint, the BIA helped create a tribe whose members have no affiliation with the “true, original and genuine” Historic Ione Band of Miwok Indians, without due process of law and in violation of the “rightful tribal members’ rights.” That tribe, known as the Ione Band of Miwok Indians, intentionally excluded the majority of more than 50 genuine tribal members on the Historic Ione Band’s membership roll, the complaint says.
The BIA transferred federal recognition to the rival tribe in 1996, stripping the Historic Ione Band of Miwok Indians Tribe of its sovereign rights and disregarding the tribe’s constitutional mandates by expanding membership rolls to those who were ineligible, the complaint says.
“Dutschke has used the power and authority attendant with her positions at the BIA to interfere in matters involving the Historic Ione Band of Miwok Indians Tribe’s self-determination,” the suit says. “Amongst other illegal acts, Dutchske ... has directed federal and state of California benefits that belong to the Historic Ione Band of Miwok Indians Tribe, Villa and similarly situated members to the mock tribe.”
The complaint follows a California federal judge’s October ruling in favor of the DOI in a suit by two advocacy groups that sought to challenge the agency’s 2012 decision to acquire 228 acres of land in the city of Plymouth into trust for the Ione Band of Miwok Indians for a proposed casino.
U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley found the agency’s actions were not arbitrary and capricious because the advocacy groups had failed to support their claims that the tribe was not federally recognized when the Indian Reorganization Act was enacted in 1934.
A portion of Judge Nunley’s ruling spoke to the leadership dispute at the heart of Wednesday’s complaint.
The Ione Band of Miwok Indians, which the judge said had more than 750 members, intervened in the suit between the groups and the DOI. Due to some confusion, a lawyer for Villa was later granted pro hac vice status, although Villa was not a party — which ultimately prompted the judge to revoke the lawyer’s admission.
Before the admission was revoked, Villa had claimed the Ione Band of Miwok Indians did not accurately or correctly represent the tribe in terms of its membership and tribal government on a genealogical or historical basis, according to Judge Nunley’s ruling.
The ruling noted that the DOI had informed the court it did not authorize Villa to speak on behalf of the Ione Band of Miwok Indians and that the agency had previously advised Villa and the band to work together to resolve their leadership concerns, saying it was not the agency’s place to determine the leadership of tribes.
Whether the intervenors were the correct referent for “Ione Band of Miwok Indians of California,” which has appeared on the DOI’s list of federally recognized tribes in the Federal Register since the 1990s, was not an issue presented to the court by any parties to the lawsuit, Judge Nunley said. He therefore declined to make a disposition on Villa’s claims.
Wednesday’s suit seemed poised to set the stage for that determination.
The complaint seeks a judgment declaring the Historic Ione Band of Miwok Indians Tribe, not its rivals, as federally recognized, restraining the DOI and BIA from interfering with the tribe’s political activities and paying over to the plaintiffs some of the money the allegedly mock tribe has received from the government. Unspecified damages and attorney’s fees were also requested.
Dutschke has “continuously represented” to both the BIA and the public that she and her family are enrolled members of the tribe, but she has no ancestral or genealogical ties to the Historic Ione Band of Miwok Indians, the complaint says.
It says she used her position at the BIA to open rolls to those who are not eligible to become tribal members and to interfere with tribal elections.
Representatives for the plaintiffs did not respond to requests for comment Thursday. A spokeswoman for the Department of the Interior said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
The plaintiffs are represented by Mark J. Kallenbach and Randy E. Thomas.
Counsel information for the defendants was not available.
The case is Villa et al. v. Jewell et al., case number 2:16-at-00284, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.
--Additional reporting by Vidya Kauri. Editing by Brian Baresch.
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