Massachusetts Senators Edward J. Markey and Elizabeth Warren released a joint statement after the Department of the Interior announced the disestablishment of the Mashpee Wampanoag reservation.

“The Mashpee Wampanoag have a right to their ancestral homeland no matter what craven political games the Trump administration tries to play," the senators said in the statement. "Disestablishment of the Mashpee Wampanoag reservation would re-open a shameful and painful chapter of American history of systematically ripping apart tribal lands and breaking the federal government’s word. We will not allow the Mashpee Wampanoag to lose their homeland. We will fight this cruel injustice that promises to have ripple effects across Indian Country.”

The Mashpee Wampanoag have been involved in a prolonged legal battle over 321 acres of land in Taunton and a proposal to build a casino there.

A bill, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act (H.R. 312), sought to recognize and protect what was described as a “tribal homeland.” It was passed by the House on May 15, 2019, but failed to win passage in the Republican-controlled Senate.

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