Sovereignty Recognized, Rights Respected.
CROSSING THE UNITED STATES-CANADA BORDER
1
We Were Here Before the Border Existed
Picture this: Imagine living in the same place your ancestors have called home for thousands of years. Your family, your sacred sites, your traditional hunting and gathering areas—all part of one continuous homeland.
Now imagine someone draws a line through the middle of it.
Not through consultation. Not with permission. Just a line on a map that suddenly divides your people, your territory, and your very identity into two separate countries.
2
Proving Our Indian Blood Quantum
Picture this: You're traveling to see your grandmother. You reach the border and hand over your Indian Status Card (official documentation) issued by the Government of Canada.
The border agent looks at you and says: "You don't look Indian. Prove your 50% blood quantum"
But Canada doesn't recognize blood quantum and neither does your Tribal government, so you are denied entry.
That's just one scenario. U.S-born veterans using their Tribal ID's have been asked to prove their blood quantum when returning to the United States.
3
Real Impact on Families
Border restrictions don't just separate individuals, they fracture entire cultural systems.
The right to move freely in our ancestral territories, to practice our ceremonies, to maintain our family connections are fundamental to who we are.
A grandmother who can't easily visit her grandchildren may be the last fluent speaker they could have learned from.
Crossing the border with eagle feathers, sweetgrass, sage, or sacred items often means facing interrogation, confiscation, or inappropriate handling.
As a result of the Treaty of Amity Commerce and Navigation of 1794, commonly referred to as the Jay Treaty, between the U.S. and Great Britain, the U.S.-Canadian border runs through the territories of several federally recognized Native American tribes. Because of this, treaties and federal law recognize the inherent right of all American Indians and Canadian Indians to pass freely into their own homelands. Article III of the Treaty states, "[i]t is agreed, that . . . the Indians dwelling on either side of the [U.S.-Canadian border], freely to pass and repass, by land or inland navigation into the respective territories and countries of the two parties on the continent of America."
In 1952, Congress enacted Pub. L. 82-414, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), to govern immigration and citizenship in the United States. Section 289 of the INA (8 U.S.C. § 1359) provides that the right of American Indians born in Canada to enter the United States “shall extend only to persons who possess at least 50 per centum of blood of the American Indian race.” Under the statute, American Indians residing in Canada who choose to exercise their Jay Treaty rights must not only provide proof of tribal enrollment but demonstrate that they possess 50 percent blood quantum when they wish to cross to work, live, or visit family living just across the border.
UNITED STATES - CANADIAN BORDER?
If you are having trouble crossing the U.S.-Canadian border using your tribal identification card pursuant to your Jay Treaty right or you have questions or wish to work with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on issues impacting your members, please reach out to the contacts listed below.
Department of Homeland Security
Office of Intergovernmental Affairs
Rodney Lockett
Acting Director of Tribal Affairs
(202) 841-2065
rodney.lockett@hq.dhs.gov
LOOKING TO OBTAIN AN ENHANCED TRIBAL IDENTIFICATION CARD?
Real IDs and Tribal Enhanced Identification Cards (ETCs) – Which form of identification do I need when crossing the United States-Canada and United States-Mexico border? Is my tribal identification card REAL ID compliant? How can a tribal government develop their own ETC? What requirements does an ETC need to have? What it will cost my tribe to participate? Join this Jay Treaty Border Alliance webinar to learn how you can help facilitate the crossing of your tribal members at the border using these identification cards.
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JTBA Webinar Recording Below
ASKED TO PROVE YOUR BLOOD QUANTUM?ADVOCATE FOR THE ENACTMENT OF THE
TRIBAL BORDER CROSSING PARITY ACT
The manner in which the law is currently written is causing members of federally-recognized tribes to be denied entry back into the United States if they are unable to prove their blood quantum at the border. As federal law recognizes the right of Indian tribes to establish their own standards for citizenship, including methods that do not rely on blood quantum (See Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez, 436 U.S. 49 (1978)), 8 U.S.C. § 1359 is inconsistent with federal law because it relies on blood quantum as a measure of tribal affiliation, rather than proof of membership in a federally recognized tribe.
Members of federally recognized tribes need Congress to enact the H.R. 4596/S.2577 The McCarran-Walter Technical Corrections Act in order to amend 8 U.S.C. § 1359 to recognize proof of enrollment in a federally recognized tribe when crossing into their own territory rather than being continually objected to institutionalized discrimination stemming from the Termination Era when the federal government sought to end its government-to-government relationship through harmful legislation.