Tribal council chairman, Keating blast 'cruel act' by Department of the Interior.

MASHPEE — An unprecedented decision by the U.S. secretary of the Interior to rescind the Mashpee Wampanoag's land-into-trust comes as a "hardcore blow" to the tribe, according to Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell.

Cromwell learned the news during a call Friday afternoon with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

He thought the bureau was calling to see if there was anything the tribe needed during the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, he was told that Interior Secretary David Bernhardt has ordered that the tribe’s land be taken out of trust and the reservation be disestablished.

“It was absurd,” Cromwell said in a phone interview Saturday. “It’s like a punch in the nose from a bully.”

Cromwell said he tried to ask questions about what this new order means and when it will take effect, but he received no answers.

“It’s somewhat of a dictatorship,” he said.

“It feels like we’ve been dropped off into a new world we’ve never seen before, i.e., in this pandemic and the way my tribe is being treated,” Cromwell said. “With this happening now, this is a direct, hardcore blow to dissolving and disestablishing my tribe.”

Because of the pandemic, many tribal operations were put on hold, such as the construction of 42 affordable housing units in Mashpee and the operation of a school dedicated to reestablishing its tribal language.

Also in limbo are the tribe’s plans to build a $1 billion casino in Taunton, which was part of a yearslong litigation that led to the questioning of whether the tribe qualified for land-in-trust status.

The order comes from no court, Cromwell said, and has never been done before. Since 1934, with the implementation of the Indian Reorganization Act, lands have been put in trust for tribes across the nation to uphold its sovereignty. The current administration is the first to remove a tribe from its trust status, Cromwell said.

The news comes about a month after the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Interior Department lacked authority to take that land into trust for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in 2015. The court had upheld a 2016 decision that the tribe was not under federal jurisdiction at the time that the Indian Reorganization Act was passed, disqualifying it for land-in-trust status.

The tribe had appealed that ruling, and in a separate action, had filed suit against the Interior Department in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to challenge its reversal. Cromwell said the separate lawsuit is still happening in Washington. They are waiting for the oral arguments to be filed.

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe remains a federally recognized tribe, according to Conner Swanson, deputy press secretary for the Department of the Interior.

“On March 19th, the court of appeals issued its mandate, which requires Interior to rescind its earlier decision,” Swanson said in an email. “This decision does not affect the federal recognition status of the Tribe, only Interior’s statutory authority to accept the land in trust. Rescission of the decision will return ownership of the property to the Tribe.”

A bill called the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act would resolve much of the tribe’s uncertainties. It would stop litigation and confirm the tribe’s homeland, Cromwell said. But the bill is stuck in the Senate.

U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass, the main sponsor of the bill, said in a phone interview Saturday that this order to disestablish the tribe’s land-in-trust comes as odd timing and that competing interests could be causing the bill’s delay.

Keating said the bill is bipartisan, with Republican leaders co-sponsoring it, and should have moved through quickly.

When the bill was put forth in the House in May, President Donald Trump tweeted his opposition.

Matt Schlapp, chairman of the Conservative Political Action Committee, is a lobbyist for the Rhode Island casinos, such as the Twin River Casino in Lincoln, Keating said. His wife, Mercedes Schlapp, is a senior White House communications aide.

“I think that’s what’s slowing it in the Senate,” Keating said.

He said there is no logic in the Interior Department's decision. During a time of national health and economic emergency, the secretary of the Interior should be reaching out to help all Native American tribes, Keating said in a statement.

Keating said Bernhardt should be ashamed.

“This is just a cruel act and it’s hard to understand how someone could act like that at this time,” Keating said.

“Is he foolish enough to think that putting it out on a late Friday in the midst of the coronavirus, it will get buried?” Keating said. “That’s the opposite. It’s cruel.”

While the tribe’s legal team explores options available for them to take through court, Cromwell is calling for a meeting with Bernhardt to learn why this decision was made. He also urged President Trump to support the tribe and hopes Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will work to pass the bill.

“I’m calling upon the United States Congress to right this wrong to immediately take up the bill and pass it,” Cromwell said.

Jean Luc-Pierite, president of the board of directors of the North American Indian Center of Boston, said in an email to Cromwell that the center is writing a letter for state action to address the impacts of the Indian Country during the pandemic. He said the center will also include language to support the Wampanoag Tribe’s efforts to protect their lands.

“This is an existential crisis for all tribes federally recognized after 1934,” wrote Luc-Pierite, who is a member of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana.

“I just want to call out to all of America to rise up,” Cromwell said. “We’re not giving up and this is not the end.”

Follow Jessica Hill on Twitter: @jess_hillyeah.