ST. PAUL, Minn. — On Monday, September 30, the Minnesota Supreme Court heard oral arguments on a constitutional challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). In the morning hours on the Capitol steps, community members in support of tribal sovereignty gathered to voice their support for upholding the law.
The Indian Child Welfare Act, enacted in 1978, was passed in response to studies that showed Indigenous children were being removed from their families at disproportionate rates and placed outside of their communities, even when willing relatives were able to take them in. The law set federal requirements for state child custody proceedings in order to best protect the interests of Indigenous children, keep families intact, and promote the stability and sovereignty of the tribal nations. In 2022, the United States Supreme Court upheld the provisions of ICWA in a 7-2 decision.
Senator Mary Kunesh (DFL-New Brighton) was among the speakers at the rally that took place on the steps of the Minnesota Capitol. Following the rally, the Senator released this statement:
“Since before the founding of our country, Indigenous Americans have been the subject of centuries of systemic oppression, through both direct campaigns of violence and intentional civic exclusion and exploitation. The Indian Child Welfare Act is one attempt to reconcile with that history and heal the wounds that were inflicted on Indigenous communities. With this in mind, it is our duty to respect the sovereignty of the tribal nations. The removal of children from their families has been the cause of generational trauma and the fracturing of Native communities. It is crucial that we keep ICWA’s standards and preferences in place and promote the sovereignty of our Indigenous neighbors and allow them to keep their nations and culture intact.”
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