Traffic stops generate conflicting stances between UKB, Cherokees

Sequoyah County Sheriff Larry Lane Jr. addressed Sequoyah County Commissioners Monday about complaints he has received about the United Keetoowah Band performing law enforcement duties in and around the Lake Tenkiller area.

According to “numerous calls, inquiries and complaints” he has received, Lane said the UKB Lighthorse has been conducting law enforcement activities “mainly traffic stops” around the Tenkiller and Gore area which has been going on for about the past two years.

“I began making inquiries to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Cherokee Nation Attorney General, Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office and the District 27 District Attorney’s Office about the legality and jurisdiction of the UKB,” Lane stated in a letter he shared with the commissioners.

According to the letter which he sent to the UKB, the Cherokee Nation Attorney General’s office has now issued a formal letter stating among other things, the UKB has no legal authority or criminal jurisdiction within Sequoyah County, Lane said.

Lane stated, “Therefore, I am requesting the UKB Lighthorse police to cease all law enforcement related activities within Sequoyah County until there has been other proof presented to us from the BIA, Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma Attorney General or appropriate courts.”

According to a letter of response from the office of the Cherokee Nation Attorney General Sara Hill, following Lane’s inquiry, Hill wrote, “Under federal law, Indian tribes have criminal jurisdiction over Indian people only within a tribe’s Indian Country (and in some limited cases relating to domestic and family violence, some tribes have such jurisdiction over non-Indians, too). ‘Indian Country’ includes an Indian tribe’s reservation. This means that the police officers of an Indian tribe can exercise criminal jurisdiction—can stop, cite, or arrest Indians—only for offenses committed on that tribe’s reservation.”

According to the Cherokee Nation, “There is no UKB reservation.” UKB is a totally different tribe than the Cherokee Nation and has different government and different laws. Although UKB first organized in 1950 as a new tribe, entirely distinct from the Cherokee Nation. The treaties that created the Cherokee Nation Reservation were signed with the Cherokee Nation decades before the UKB ever existed. There are no treaties between the United States and the UKB, and no federal law ever created a UKB reservation or gave UKB criminal jurisdiction on any part of the Cherokee Nation Reservation,” the letter from the Cherokee Nation attorney general’s office states.

However, the UKB issued the following statement regarding the issue on their website: “The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma (UKB) is aware of recent unsubstantiated statements by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (CNO) that the UKB and its law enforcement officers lack civil or criminal law enforcement jurisdiction. These statements threaten the public safety and welfare of the Oklahoma Cherokee Reservation.

“One tactic the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has used to threaten the public is unfounded letters to multiple county sheriffs on the Oklahoma Cherokee Reservation. “The UKB is pleased to announce that on May 10, 2023, the Bureau of Indian Affairs issued Special Law Enforcement Commission credentials to UKB Lighthorse Law Enforcement in recognition of the UKB’s civil and criminal jurisdiction over UKB Indian Country and their ability to assist federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in the enforcement or carrying out of the laws or regulations the agency enforces or administers.

“The simple fact is that the UKB Lighthorse possesses law enforcement jurisdiction recognized by the United States Government. Any statement to the contrary is false. We call on federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to move forward with the UKB in the spirit of cooperation as we continue to protect the public health, safety and welfare.”

Your TIMES will include any further statements regarding the issue as they become available.