The United States has a long and largely reprehensible history when it comes to its treatment of the indigenous peoples of this continent. From the earliest days when they set foot on these shores, the European colonists brought with them a false sense of entitlement and a belief that they were enlightened, and by contrast the original inhabitants were savage and ignorant.

This attitude has pervaded much of the country’s history. From the forced displacement of entire nations of people to the devastating practice of assimilation, the federal government has proven itself time and again to be a dishonest partner when it came to its dealings with the nations that preceded it. Despite this, Indian tribes have worked hard to act in good faith when it comes to dealing with what could easily be seen as an occupying force.

So on March 27, when Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell took a call from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, he could have reasonably believed that the Bureau was calling to check on how the tribe was weathering the current pandemic. He may have even thought that the Bureau was calling for more information about the tribe’s effort to put its lands in Taunton into trust.

What Cromwell could not have foreseen was that the caller would inform him that Interior Secretary David Bernhardt had decided to order the Wampanoag’s lands be removed from trust status and that the tribe’s reservation be disestablished. When Cromwell pushed for answers, there were none.

The blow was only the latest in a long series of setbacks for the Mashpee Wampanoag. As U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., pointed out in a press release, the tribe was excluded from the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which granted more sovereignty to recognized tribes. The Mashpee Wampanoag were finally recognized by the federal government in 2007, and in 2015 the Obama administration agreed to put the tribe’s Taunton land into trust in anticipation of the Wampanoag building a casino on the land.

That all changed three years ago when the Trump administration reversed the Obama-era order. The move came in the midst of a series of court cases that claimed that because the Wampanoag were not under federal jurisdiction in 1934, they could not put their land into trust. That court case continues, even as Washington lawmakers consider a law that would provide relief for the tribe.

Keating minced no words when it came to Bernhardt’s actions.

“In a time of national health and economic emergency, the Secretary of the Interior should be reaching out to help all Native American tribes,” Keating wrote in a press release. “This is one of the most cruel and nonsensical acts I have seen since coming to Congress. The Secretary should be ashamed.”

There remains a chance that this injustice may yet be righted. Last year, the House passed two bipartisan proposals that would restore the land to trust status. Both bills, however, continue to languish in the Senate, where their fate is anything but certain. Republicans are keenly aware that President Trump opposes the effort. Keating argues that the president appears to be acting on behalf of the husband of one of his senior White House communication aides, who happens to be a lobbyist for a rival casino developer.

In some ways it comes as little surprise that the federal government would once again choose the path of betrayal when it comes to its dealings with the Mashpee Wampanoag. But just because there is a past practice of bad behavior does not make it any less horrific when it happens again.

The fact that the Bureau chose to deliver the information late on a Friday afternoon in the midst of a global health crisis only increases the magnitude of the horror. One would hope that an administration would not use the cover of a medical emergency to hide its tracks.

In any case, this decision by the Trump administration to once again disenfranchise another Indian nation, whose land we stole hundreds of years ago, is more than despicable; it is unconscionable.