Tribe urges feds: Stop letting refuge occupiers come and go

The Burns Paiute Tribe said Monday it has asked that the U.S. Justice Department prevent armed militants from freely moving on and off the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, as it said “pressure builds for the FBI and local law enforcement officials to put an end to the illegal occupation.”

Thousands of ancient Native American artifacts and maps to where more antiquities can be found are kept inside the refuge buildings. Recent videos posted to social media show members of the group going through some of the antiquities and criticizing the way the government stored the items.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service defended their care for the artifacts in a statement over the weekend, saying the occupiers had misinterpreted what they found.

Here’s the rest of the tribe’s news release, issued Monday morning:

Over the last 23 days since the siege began, law enforcement officials have allowed the militants to freely move in and out of the Refuge headquarters and off the Refuge itself. Despite the illegal occupation, the militants have been allowed to come and go freely and restock and replenish supplies, hold news conferences, leave the state, and more.

In a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and FBI Director James Comey, Tribal Chair Charlotte Roderique called on the U.S. Government to secure the headquarters property and to prosecute occupiers if they violate laws protecting cultural resources.

“Law enforcement continues to allow the armed militants to come and go from the Refuge as they please,” wrote Chair Rodrique. “Allowing the militants free passage to and from the Refuge must stop.”

The Burns Paiute Tribe has expressed grave concern over the handling of cultural artifacts at the Refuge headquarters. Tribal council members met last week with U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams, and with representatives from the FBI and Oregon Governor Kate Brown’s office and the Oregon State Police, to express their concerns.

Tribal representatives requested that prosecutors seek federal and state criminal penalties for anyone who steals or harms tribal cultural resources.

“It is clear now that the lawbreakers have gained access to the artifacts and the files, even posting videos on social media from the storage area,” said Rodrique. “We are more concerned than ever that some of these artifacts will go missing when this is all over.”

The Burns Paiute Tribe is a federally?recognized Indian tribe whose ancestors inhabited southeast Oregon, southern Idaho, and northern California and Nevada. The Burns Paiute Tribe’s reservation is headquartered in Burns, Oregon. The Burns Paiute Tribe’s ancestral territory includes the area now managed as the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, as well as other federal lands in southeast Oregon. The Burns Paiute Tribe has not ceded any of its rights in the Tribe’s ancestral territory.

The Burns Paiute Tribe’s ancestors signed a treaty with the federal government in 1868. The 1868 treaty was not ratified by the United States Congress, but both parties acted in reliance on the treaty. Under its terms, the Government guaranteed it would protect the safety and property of the Northern Paiute people. The Government also committed to inflict punishment for “any crime or injury [that] is perpetrated by any white man upon the Indians aforesaid … according to the Laws of the United States and the State of Oregon.”

In addition, the federal government has a Trust responsibility to the Burns Paiute Tribe to protect cultural resources on federal lands. Several federal laws protect native cultural properties.

In Chair Rodrique’s letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and FBI Director James Comey, ” the Tribe requests that the United States bring criminal charges under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 and “undertake a swift resolution of the occupation and that you take additional steps to protect our cultural patrimony.”

“We offer our cooperation to ensure that lawbreakers are punished to the full extent of the law. This unfortunate chapter in Oregon history must end,” it concludes.