The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, based in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, recently sued U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and the U.S. Department of Interior over Zinke’s “arbitrary and capricious” denial of the tribe’s land-trust application for tracts it purchased in Huron Township, southwest of Detroit Metro Airport and in downtown Lansing.
The lawsuit claims the decision, issued July 24, 2017, violated Zinke’s mandatory duty under the Michigan Indian Land Claims Settlement Act, which established a “self-sufficiency fund” and authorized the tribe to use the interest from that fund for “the consolidation or enhancement of tribal lands” or for the “social welfare” of tribal members. It specified that any lands purchased by the tribe under this provision “shall be held in trust by the Secretary.”
The tribe said it plans to use these lands for casino gaming facilities and possibly other tribal business and governmental activities. Local governments have entered into agreements with the tribe regarding law enforcement, revenue sharing and other issues. Sault Tribe Chairperson Aaron Payment said, “The tribe remains confident of its right to acquire land under the Michigan Indian Land Claim Settlement Act and is determined to protect that right in court.”
Sault Tribe officials said over the past year they examined all of their legal options and making sure they had secured the resources required to “carry this fight to the finish line.”
The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan had opposed the Sault Tribe’s land-trust application. In a media release, it said, “We applaud the Interior Department for their well-thought-out decision that the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe cannot mandate the agency to take lands into trust for gaming purposes anywhere they want to in Michigan. The parcels of land that the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe was trying to have taken into trust are located more than 300 miles from their current reservation in the Upper Peninsula. The Interior Department’s decision affirms our longstanding position that the Michigan Indian Land Claims Settlement Act does not provide the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe with authority to shop for lands anywhere in the State merely to build a casino.”
In the decision, Department of the Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason concluded the tribe failed prove that acquiring the parcels would be an “enhancement” of tribal lands.
