UKB, Cherokee Nation Disagree Over Senate Proposal’s Impact on Land Rights

By Cherokee 411 Staff

Originally reported by KOSU | By Sarah Liese (Twilla)

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Leaders from the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians say proposed federal legislation would terminate their ability to hold land in trust and limit economic development within their reservation — authority the Department of the Interior has said is shared with the Cherokee Nation, though that status is under review.

According to a UKB press release, the draft language originated from the office of Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Cherokee Nation citizen, and was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. The tribe says the provision was sent from Mullin’s office to the Department of the Interior for technical assistance, with the intention of attaching it to an appropriations bill.

“Congress can just do whatever it wants with Indian tribes and Indian country,” said Klint Cowan, the UKB’s attorney general. “The aim of it would be to attach it to an appropriations bill and essentially terminate the UKB, because we would no longer have the right to have land interests at all, whether for gaming or otherwise, which would completely deprive us of the ability to do economic development and raise revenue to provide services for our members.”

The FOIA documents include an email from Jason Freihage, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of the Interior, sharing the draft language from the Senate Appropriations Committee. UKB leaders are demanding the provision be withdrawn.

“This is genocide by redline,” UKB Chief Jeff Wacoche said in a statement. “And it is being carried out not with muskets or manifest destiny, but with a secret pen in a Senate office.”

Mullin’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

The bill language comes as the two tribes continue to navigate jurisdictional disagreements. In January, the Department of the Interior issued what’s known as an M-Opinion, stating that the UKB and Cherokee Nation have concurrent jurisdiction over the Cherokee reservation in northeast Oklahoma — a decision UKB leaders said bolstered plans for a casino in Tahlequah.

The M-Opinion’s future is uncertain. President Trump, in his second term, suspended all legal opinions issued under the Biden administration for further review, including the one impacting the two tribes.

“That M-Opinion is not a final agency action,” Cowan said. “The idea is the opinion will tee up a federal decision so the Cherokee Nation can sue, and we can go to court, and the courts will resolve all this. … Senator Mullin is now trying to circumvent that legal process.”