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Gov. Kristi Noem said she hasn’t received a response from federal authorities about the state’s investigation into two tribes’ checkpoints.
Noem said she hasn’t heard from the U.S. Department of Justice, the White House or South Dakota’s congressional delegation about the evidence the state turned over to them last week. She declined on Tuesday to give details of the investigation, citing that it’s an ongoing investigation.
Noem announced on May 20 that she had directed South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg to collect evidence about the tribes’ “unlawful checkpoints” and turned that evidence over to the U.S. Department of Justice.
More: How a S.D. Native American tribe is protecting its people from COVID-19
Oglala and Cheyenne River tribal leaders have maintained that their checkpoints are allowed and will continue as part of the tribes’ coronavirus response.
In response, Oglala spokesman Chase Iron Eyes said Noem missed an opportunity to “set a positive example of executive leadership” and was instead putting Native Americans’ lives at risk. Cheyenne River Chairman Harold Frazier denied that the tribe was blocking people at its checkpoints and they have been effective at limiting the spread of the coronavirus onto the reservation.
More: ACLU supports tribes in checkpoints dispute with Gov. Kristi Noem
Earlier in May, Noem gave the tribes a 48-hour deadline to remove the checkpoints or else she would seek legal action. She said the move came after weeks of discussions about the checkpoints and her administration receiving complaints about the checkpoints. After the tribes didn’t remove the checkpoints by the deadline, she sent them a proposed plan that included having checkpoints on Bureau of Indian Affairs roads and removing them from state and federal highways.
Noem said on Tuesday that she hasn’t received a formal response to her proposed plan yet and “we’re still hopeful they’ll consider that plan going forward.”
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