US tribes sue Trump administration over staff cuts at native schools

By Asiye Latife Yilmaz

ISTANBUL (AA) - Three Native American tribes and five students have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over job cuts at the Bureau of Indian Education schools, claiming the layoffs harmed quality of education and violated legal obligations, according to a New York Times report.

As part of federal budget cuts since January, the Trump administration's layoffs affected nearly a quarter of the staff at Haskell Indian Nations University and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, the daily reported on Sunday.

The Native American Rights Fund filed the lawsuit in federal court on behalf of the Pueblo of Isleta, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, and Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, arguing that the tribes were not consulted before the federal government laid off staff at Haskell Indian Nations University and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute.

The lawsuit targets the heads of the Interior Department, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Office of Indian Education Programs.

According to the lawsuit, the staff cuts led to lost courses, trash-filled dorms, brown, undrinkable water, inadequate meals in dining halls, and frequent power outages that disrupt students’ studies.

"We are concerned that these schools are being gutted of instructors and custodial staff without regard to the long-term consequences on students and the operations of the schools," said lawyer Jacqueline De Leon.

"We are worried this will continue to happen again and again."

For over 150 years, the US government sent Native children to boarding schools designed to forcibly assimilate them by erasing their cultures, languages, and traditions. These schools were often abusive, leading to lasting harm, with mass graves found near several institutions.

The Bureau of Indian Education provides educational services to Native Americans and Alaska Natives, fulfilling the US government's responsibility to uphold its legal and moral obligations to tribes.

Since taking office on Jan. 20, the Trump administration has carried out mass layoffs of tens of thousands of federal workers in what it calls cost cutting, though employee expenses account for only about 6% of federal spending.