‘Losing our voice, losing our space’

Jourdan Bennett-Begaye and Kalle Benallie
ICT

WASHINGTON — The anger, resilience and ready-to-fight energy radiated from tribal college and university presidents and students as they packed into the conference room Tuesday, Feb. 4, for National Tribal College Week.

They arrived from as far away as Utqiaqvik, Alaska, for the annual tribal college and universities legislative summit hosted by the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, an organization that represents and supports all accredited tribal colleges and universities across the country. Of the 37 institutions in the country, 35 were represented at this year’s annual summit.

They already were bracing for what they would face in the coming year.

In just the first three weeks of his new administration, President Donald Trump had already signed an executive order on his first day in office that rescinded the White House Initiative for Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, Economic Opportunity for Native Americans and Strengthening Tribal Colleges and Universities. The initiative had promoted the success and growth of Indigenous education in public schools, at home, or schools operated or funded by the Bureau of Indian Education, Department of the Interior, or postsecondary educational institutions, including tribal colleges and universities.

A week later came news of an abrupt decision to freeze federal grants and loans, which could affect more than $1 billion of federal funding for tribal nations in education, healthcare, climate initiatives, law enforcement, agriculture, and more.

Several lawsuits were filed immediately, and judges have placed a temporary block on the federal funding freeze, but administration officials indicated that “some kind of funding freeze is still planned as part of his blitz of executive orders,” The Associated Press reported.

A screenshot of the White House initiative floated around Native peoples’ and allies’ social media feeds of the action with comments expressing how upset they were with Trump’s order.

The consortium’s president and chief executive, Ahniwake Rose, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and of Muscogee (Creek) descent, stood on the stage encouraging college presidents and students to share their stories with their representatives and explain how the decisions will impact their education, institutions, families, communities, and tribal nations.

She said even a “pause” in funding would affect them.

“That’s the important part —the pause in funding,” she told ICT. “Because while the freeze has been lifted, the pause might not be and while we’re settling and figuring out what the executive orders mean across the agencies, the real-life impact for our TCUs is going to be felt immediately.”

Austin Boots, left, is a first year student at Iḷisaġvik College in Utqiagvik, Alaska, who attended the 2025 American Indian Higher Education Consortium Legislative Summit on February 4, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Jourdan Bennett-Begaye, ICT)

Ahniwake Rose, president and chief executive officer of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, asked a question during the Farm Bill panel at the consortium’s annual legislative summit on February 4, 2025 in Washington, D.C. Rose is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and of Muscogee (Creek) descent. (Jourdan Bennett-Begaye, ICT)

Facing a potential funding freeze

Rose, who previously served as the consortium’s vice president of congressional and federal relations, told ICT that when the organization found out about the funding freeze, officials immediately sent a survey to all the tribal colleges and universities asking how the move would affect the day-to-day operations and impact the institutions and their students.

Tribal colleges and universities receive 74 percent of their total revenue from federal funding. If the freeze continues, tribal colleges and universities could shut down, according to the impact sheets from the surveys that congressional leaders will receive this week.

More than 30,000 jobs are created across the local and regional economies. Most of these jobs are tied to federal funds and would affect faculty and staff positions, on and off campus.

Rose said many of the larger state institutions have alumni and endowments to draw from, but that doesn’t apply to all 37 tribal colleges and universities. Some of the TCUs don’t have six months of reserves, either.

“So a pause in funding that lasts six months means that we’re losing faculty,” she said. “A pause in funding for six months means that we’re closing courses. And if we close a course, if we lose (a) classroom, we’re losing students, then we’re losing revenue from our student enrollment.”

She continued, “So the ripple effect will be long-lasting. If this is not just a freeze, if this is just a pause, if it goes on much longer, then it will have a devastating impact on our TCUs. Some of our TCUs have noticed that, or have noted that, if it goes past six months, they might have to consider closing.”

Leander R. McDonald, president of United Tribes Technical College in North Dakota, estimates that his college has six months of reserves. He is Ihanktowan, Sahnish, Hidatsa, and Hunkpapa, and serves on the consortium’s board as vice chair.

“After that we would have to discontinue operations,” he said. “So when we started hearing about these funding freezes, we started looking at our budgets a little bit more closely and saying … ‘Well, what do we need in order to get us to the end of the school year?’”

McDonald said about two-thirds of the college’s funding relies on federal funds, with one-third coming from endowment monies and foundations.

Each institution also has to worry about accreditation, officials said, since tribal colleges and universities are obligated to meet the standard for each area of study, he said. They have one of two choices: fulfill the educational commitment themselves or refer students to other educational institutions.

“We’re certainly in quite a predicament should that funding freeze happen, because we wouldn’t be able to complete the mission that we’re set out for,” he said. “We would need time in order to stop operations, and we’d be liable for that, and with the treaty and trust responsibility, just begs the question is that, do we file suit as a result of that, for the liability that we’re incurring as a result of a pullback of federal funds? And I think that’s where the majority of us as tribal colleges would fall in my mind.”

Twyla Baker said Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College’s soft-funded projects are approximately 60 percent made up of federal funds. Soft-funded projects are grants, sponsored-programs, private donations, anything external to the tuition money they receive. Baker is the president of the North Dakota college and a citizen of the Three Affiliated Tribes.

The school has done a lot to build up its reserves and endowment but it’s nowhere near where they need it to be. It’s still in the “infancy” stages, she said.

“It’s not something that we would be able to tap into long term, and we haven’t even really tapped into it right now to start pulling the interest off of or anything like that, because we still wanted to build it up,” she said.

“We’ll probably be able to stay for the academic year if there are no pauses in federal funding. But beyond that, it starts to be a big question mark,” Baker said.

Closing the educational doors would have a “colossal impact” on her students, she said.

“We live in a very rural and remote area in Northwest North Dakota, and these students can easily drive up to an hour one way to come to school with us,” said Baker, who sits on the consortium board as the research chair.

“They receive all types of supports that we can possibly find for them, and a lot of them are tied to federal dollars, so it’s crucial that we are able to keep our relationship considered under treaty and trust, and that those dollars can continue to come to the tribal colleges, and that we be kept in that consideration,” she said.

The United Tribes Technical College and Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College are two of five tribal colleges and universities in the state.

The consortium’s impact sheet from North Dakota, for example, offers a closer look at the impact a disruption in funding could cause. The impact sheet, summarized by the consortium, indicates the harm could be felt in five areas:

  • Immediate impact: Reduced services, staff layoffs, tuition spikes, and campus program closures
  • Financial consequences: Dependence on federal grants means institutional operations would be at serious risk. Tuition would increase drastically to offset loss of federal funding.
  • Impact on students: Loss of educational opportunities for TCU students, increased dropout rates, financial insecurity, and loss of access to crucial financial aid.
  • Impact on faculty/staff: Staff and faculty would face severe job losses, impacting institutional stability.
  • Impact on research: Research activities would be disrupted, particularly those funded by federal agencies such as NASA and U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

A Diné College information sheet at the 2025 American Indian Higher Education Consortium Legislative Summit on February 4, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Jourdan Bennett-Begaye, ICT)

Extensions of sovereignty

Rose, McDonald, and Baker emphasized that tribal colleges and universities are chartered by federally recognized tribes, and are therefore extensions of tribal nations and sovereignty.

“We’ve ceded billions of acres of land to this country to and in exchange for that we have certain protections, and we have a relationship with the federal government that ensures that we have services in place,” Baker said. “We have education, health care … infrastructure, things in place to ensure the health and the well being of our peoples in perpetuity, because they bet they benefit from the land that was ceded.”

There’s also federal legislation in 1994 that designated more than a dozen tribal colleges and universities land-grant institutions. They are part of a land-grant university system that dates back to 1862. Most TCUs are now considered land-grant institutions.

The first tribal college was Diné College, known as Navajo Community College before 1997. Former Navajo Nation Chairman Raymond Nakai established the college as a step toward self-determination in 1968, which was 100 years after the Navajo Treaty of 1868.

While self-determination was part of the formula, McDonald said the tribal colleges were also created to address non-completion of tribal students at mainstream institutions. He’s seen its success. “We’re able to provide a higher education experience where they’re at home and they’re able to experience higher education and courses and programs of study that they receive and complete them (courses and programs) as a result of coming to school with us and at higher rates than they do with mainstream institutions,” he said. 

Attendees at the annual American Indian Higher Education Consortium Legislative Summit in Washington, D.C., on February 4, 2025. (Jourdan Bennett-Begaye, ICT)

The annual American Indian Higher Education Consortium Legislative Summit took place in Washington, D.C., during the first full week of February 2025. (Jourdan Bennett-Begaye, ICT)

From associate degrees to doctorates

The number of tribal colleges and universities has grown since the start-ups decades ago.

According to the consortium numbers:

  • Thirty-seven tribal colleges and universities operate at 90 sites in 16 states — Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Michigan Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Alaska, California, and New Mexico
  • TCUs serve 80 percent of Indian Country
  • Approximately 160,000 Native students and community residents are served by TCUs
  • 245-plus federally recognized tribes have students at these institutions.

Many of these schools offer degrees ranging from associate to doctoral degrees.

Perhaps the biggest misconception of tribal colleges and universities, however, is that they are for Native students only. Non-Native students, or non-enrolled, can also attend most TCUs. About 13 percent of the students enrolled at tribal colleges and universities are non-Native, according to the consortium.

For Baker’s college, that number hovers around 10 to 15 percent for their non-beneficionary, or non-Native, students.

“We are public institutions of higher education, so they can come to school with us and are held to the same standards as the rest of the other colleges, mainstream colleges in the state and in the country,” she said. “We are accredited by the same accrediting bodies, and they can get their education with us or get their start with us at a really good deal, because we are very cognizant of the students that we’ve worked with and their socioeconomic backgrounds. So we try to support them, and we understand how tough it can be for some of these students to access higher education if it weren’t for a TCU, and that includes non-enrolled students.”

McDonald and Baker both said that their alumni go on to work in their communities as entrepreneurs, scientists, artists, and more. They become part of the workforce and contribute to their families, communities, nations, and American society.

“I think it’s a great investment that needs to be continued by the U.S. government and recognizing our contributions here, not only for the cessation of land, but also our contributions too, for building this country,” McDonald said. 

Leander R. McDonald is president of United Tribes Technical College in North Dakota. He is Ihanktowan, Sahnish, Hidatsa, and Hunkpapa. McDonald attended the 2025 American Indian Higher Education Consortium Legislative Summit in Washington, D.C. (Jourdan Bennett-Begaye, ICT)

Twyla Baker is president of Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College in North Dakota. She’s a citizen of the Three Affiliated Tribes and attended the 2025 American Indian Higher Education Consortium Legislative Summit in Washington, D.C. She serves as the consortium’s research chair. (Jourdan Bennett-Begaye, ICT)

Swept into DEI

Despite the broad impact tribal colleges and universities have had on their communities, Trump’s decision rescinding the White House initiative implemented under President Joe Biden startled much of Indian Country.

Tribal nations are not part of the anti-DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) rhetoric because of political and legal obligations.

The executive order rescinded had “unwavering” support from both sides of the aisle, according to Rose. She hopes that the administration understands that tribal colleges and universities are nation builders that are connected to sovereignty.

The American Indian Higher Education Consortium, along with two dozen tribal organizations that represent tribal nations and communities, issued a letter to Trump on Feb. 2.

The coalition summarized in a statement, “Tribal Nations are not special interest groups—they are sovereign governments with a unique legal and political relationship with the United States and with their own Tribal communities. The trust and treaty obligations of the federal government are political and debt-based in nature. Tribal Nations’ sovereignty and the federal government’s delivery on its trust and treaty obligations must not become collateral damage in broader policy shifts.”

Trump’s executive order dissolved the initiative, which was housed in the Department of Education, and eliminated the executive director position.

“This was our political office, and so by losing the political appointee, we lose some direct access to the (education) secretary,” Rose said. “We lose the opportunity to directly impact policy, to have somebody that understands what it means to work at a tribal college and university, and to ensure that as policies and as regulations and as legislation is being implemented and put into place, that our students and our faculty and our communities are being specifically addressed and thought about.”

It was a surprise for the former executive director of the initiative, Naomi Miguel. She joined the initiative in February 2023.

“My shock was more or less on the fact that this was a day-one first executive order action,” said Miguel, T’ohono Odham citizen. “That was one of my first shocks. My second shock was the amount of work that we did in that initiative and knowing that work is not going to continue in this administration.”

She said the initiative also provided information to different agencies and outside stakeholders such as non-Native institutions that are specifically interested in recruiting Native students for their programs.

She added that during her work she made efforts to inform those in the federal workplace and non-Native organizations that the Native American and Alaska Native connection to education is political. Boarding schools were used as a tool to assimilate Indigenous children and federal funding is outlined in treaties.

“A lot of the work that I was doing was internally having those discussions. It was a lot of education about us and a lot of education on our status in this country that was fully backed by the Supreme Court for centuries. I think that type of work unfortunately isn’t going to continue,” Miguel said.

Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders will also be affected. Trump also rescinded the Executive Order 14031, Advancing Equity, Justice, and Opportunity for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.

Miguel said that she worked with the Department of Health and Human Services, which housed the initiative, repeatedly. They worked together with connecting Native Hawaiian education and helping develop the work they did, on the inter-agency level, with the Department of Interior for Native languages.

“Native Hawaiians and University of Hawai’i are kind of the road map for us in revitalizing and retaining our languages for Native languages,” Miguel said. “A lot of the work they were doing was starting to be connecting all of us together, really looking at a lot of our policy papers making sure we’re being inclusive of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.”

Miguel said that rescinding the initiatives will make it harder and slower for information to be easily shared about training and technical assistance, federal aid assistance, announcements from the Department of Education or general announcements about education.

“Our students will see the impact of that unfortunately,” Miguel said. “There were times when we had FAFSA grants available for schools to utilize to help their students fill out their FAFSAs or learn how to fill out their FAFSAs. That didn’t just apply to TCUs, it applied to other high schools that may have had high populations of Native students there. There are things like that that came up that is not explicitly named in that executive order.”

Miguel also encouraged the career staff who are still working in the Department of Education and other departments to take care of themselves from possible pushback from the Trump administration.

“We did a lot of work, and it is sad and it does break my heart a little to know that it’s gone, but we need each other,” she said.

Dakota Waupoose is a student at the College of Menominee Nation. This year, 2025, was his second time attending the annual American Indian Higher Education Consortium Legislative Summit in Washington, D.C. Waupoose is a Prairie Band Potawatomi citizen and is on the consortium’s Student Congress. (Jourdan Bennett-Begaye, ICT)

Stirring students to action

Executive orders are not in the U.S. Constitution but are accepted as part of a president’s executive powers to either amend, repeal or replace any previous executive order. Although Congress can’t easily overturn executive orders, federal courts can review, challenge or block the orders if they violate or contradict the Constitution, federal laws or fundamental rights.

That’s exactly what Dakota Waupoose is learning at the legislative summit. Waupoose is a student at the College of Menominee Nation. He will be advocating for TCUs on Capitol Hill all week.

“It’s just helping bring this information back from this legislative summit to our communities, so that they don’t have to worry as much, and understanding that when we come here, we’re representing them here on the Hill,” said the Prairie Band Potawatomi citizen who is part of the consortium’s Student Congress. 

View the original article to see embedded media.

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Interior Secretary nominee questioned about stance on Native issues

Daniel Herrera Carbajal
ICT

In his confirmation hearing Thursday before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the Department of the Interior, former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, responded to questions related to Native issues such as sovereignty and the epidemic of missing murdered Indigenous women.

If confirmed, Burgum will head a department that manages a half-billion acres of public lands, federal wildlife programs, and national parks and monuments. Burgum also would oversee many tribal functions, particularly the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Indian Education.

He would replace Laguna Pueblo leader Deb Haaland, the first Native American to hold the position.

If confirmed, Burgum also would chair a new energy council charged with promoting oil and gas development. The council could play a key role in Trump’s effort to sell more oil and other energy sources to allies in Europe and around the globe.

During Thursday’s hearing, Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell (D) asked Burgum if he believed in tribal sovereignty and consultation.

“Tribal consultation to me as governor of North Dakota is spending time going to tribes, listening, sometimes listening for hours to really understand what the issues are,” Burgum said. “Working on things that are important.”

Burgum is an ultra-wealthy software industry entrepreneur who was born and raised in small-town North Dakota. He first took office as governor of the oil-rich state in 2016 and won re-election four years later. He endorsed Trump after ending his own 2024 presidential bid.

As the former governor of a state with five tribes, Burgum has a long history addressing Native issues. Not long after he took office, protests broke out near Cannon Ball, N.D., over the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. Fearing escalation, Burgum ordered all protesters leave the encampments by Feb. 22, 2017, saying he did not want protesters to be removed by force.

Burgum’s response to the protests raised alarms for tribes, and he and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe continue to have opposing stances on the pipeline, but the two maintain a solid relationship and meet regularly. He is considered to have good relationships with other tribes in North Dakota as well and is credited with significantly improving dialogue between the state and its tribes.

Montana Sen. Steve Daines (R) emphasized Burgum’s reputation by presenting to the committee a letter from the Coalition of Large Tribes praising Burgum.

“It’s been incredible for COLT tribes to have such a close supporter nominated to the secretary’s office,” said Daines. “He was someone in whom we have deep trust and confidence.”

COLT is composed of more than 15 tribal nations, including the Navajo Nation, Blackfeet Nation and the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego (D) brought up the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women, attributing the problem to a lack of tribal law enforcement.

Burgum agreed.

“One of the great tragedies is the lack of law enforcement on tribal lands, and the fact that we got organized crime preying on those gaps,” he said. “This is an unseen tragedy in America. The FBI list is now over 6,000 unsolved cases.

“We lost a college kid during spring break. It’s a Netflix series and the whole nation knows their name personally,” he said. “But we have the same individual tragedies happening over and over again in Indian Country and people aren’t even aware that it’s going on. We have to change our entire approach to this.”

Burgum talks about MMIW in clip below (2:16-4:23)

Trump’s ‘energy czar’

As Trump has dubbed Burgum his “energy czar,” he will be responsible for carrying out the President-elect’s plan of increased oil production. “Drill, baby, drill,” Trump has said.

“President Trump’s Energy Dominance vision will end wars abroad and make life more affordable for every family by driving down inflation,” said Burgum in his opening remarks. “President Trump will achieve these goals while championing clean air, clean water and our beautiful land.”

Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono (D) pushed back on this statement citing military leaders acknowledging climate change is a major issue.

“Were you aware that they testified before the Senate Armed Forces Committee a number of times that burning more fossil fuels is actually going to, in fact, not result in the end of wars but could very well exacerbate and cause wars?” Hirono said.

“Within fossil fuels, the concern has been about emissions, and within emissions we have the technology to do things like carbon capture to eliminate harmful emissions,” Burgum said.

Burgum attributed the need for more fossil fuel-powered electricity to America’s race with other global superpowers like China to develop powerful artificial intelligence technology that can have scientific, economic and military applications.

“We have a shortage of electricity and especially we have a shortage of baseload,” he said.

Baseload power is the minimum amount of electricity required over a period of time, and is generated by power plants that run continuously. Baseload power plants are a key part of an efficient electric grid.

“We know we have the technology to deliver clean coal,” Burgum said. “We’re doing that in North Dakota. This is critical to our national security. Without baseload we’re going to lose the AI arms race to China. And if we lose to China that has a direct impact on our national security.

“We need electricity for manufacturing and AI is manufacturing intelligence, and if we don’t manufacture more intelligence than our adversaries, it affects every job, every company, every industry,” Burgum said.

Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, questioned Burgum about the expansion of national monuments, including Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in his home state, under the Antiquities Act.

The monuments – considered sacred to several tribes – were created over the objections of state officials. Burgum appeared to sympathize with Lee’s concerns. The nominee said the original intent of the 1906 law was for “Indiana Jones-type archaeological protections” of objects within the smallest possible area.

Burgum later touted the many potential uses for public lands, including recreation, logging and oil and gas production that can boost local economies.

“Not every acre of federal land is a national park or a wilderness area. Some of those areas we have to absolutely protect for their precious stuff, but the rest of it – this is America’s balance sheet,” he said.

What’s next

Former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the the Interior Department as Secretary of the Interior, arrives to testify before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Once the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources finishes its questioning of Burgum, it will send his nomination to the full Senate for a vote, either with its recommendation of Burgum or without it.

The Senate will then debate the nomination and vote on it, though no date for that debate has been set.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Here’s how early voting in Arizona ended up, by the numbers

As Arizonans head to the polls across the state to cast their ballots, more than half of the votes that will determine the next president, who will control the state legislature and whether abortion will be a constitutional right in the Grand Canyon State have already been cast.

Native vote could prove critical in Montana U.S. Senate race

For help on Election Day, contact the Native American Rights Fund’s helpline at 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) for election protection volunteers who can assist voters in Indian Country. The organization can also be reached at vote.narf.org.

Kolby KickingWoman
ICT

MISSOULA, MT — One of the most crucial and hotly contested races outside of the presidency this election cycle has been taking place in Montana.

Incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is locked in a tight contest with Republican challenger Tim Sheehy in a race that could determine which party ultimately controls the U.S. Senate.

The Native voting bloc could prove to be critical this year in determining the outcome.

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There are 65,000 eligible Native voters in Montana, but more than 35,000 – more than half – were not registered to vote, according to Sami Walking Bear, Crow, who is the outreach and field director for Western Native Voice Votes, the sister organization to Western Native Voice.

Walking Bear hit the ground in February with a goal of registering 10,000 people, and by June had more than 30 community organizers across the state on the seven reservations and urban areas of Billings and Great Falls.

Along with traditional door-to-door canvassing and phone banking, she has organized small events like bingo nights to reach people.

“During the bingo games, we would put in a lot of information about voting in the upcoming election and just tips on how to register to vote, and that we offer assistance in any way we can to help you register to vote,” Walking Bear said. “So a lot of our organizing had a lot to do with events and trying to draw people to us.”

A lot of people were hesitant when she approached them “with a piece of paper from the government asking them to sign it.” She gave an example of someone who may have a warrant wondering if the cops would find them if they registered to vote.

“We worked really hard,” she told ICT. “We ended up getting about 3,300 registered voters. That was, we thought, pretty good, and now we’re hoping we have 70 percent turnout for elections.”

Nationally, there has been much focus on the issues of immigration and the economy, but issues to Native voters can be different, including protecting tribal sovereignty, conservation and healthcare.

The race between Tester and Sheehy drew increased attention from Native voters when Sheehy was caught in hot water in August after derogatory comments about the Crow Reservation were made public by the Char-Koosta News, the news publication of the Flathead Indian Reservation.

Sheehy has also drawn fire after claiming to have been wounded in military service despite telling a park ranger that the wound was self-inflicted.

Letting Native people ‘drive the bus’

Tester, 68, an organic farmer, has worked closely with tribal communities during his tenure in the U.S. Senate.

He was instrumental in the passage of water compacts for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in 2020 and the Fort Belknap Indian Community in 2024. He voted for passage of Savanna’s Act, which improves coordination with tribes and enhances law enforcement’s ability to track and prevent crimes against Native Americans.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester of Montana speaks during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. in this file photo taken on Sept. 26, 2018. Tester is facing a stiff challenge from Republican businessman Tim Sheehy in the Nov. 5, 2024, election. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Tester has also served on the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and the Veterans Affairs Committee. He is often quoted as saying, “We need to let the Native Americans drive the bus,” when it comes to issues facing tribal communities.

Tester worked two years as a music teacher starting in 1978 before returning to run the family farm and butcher shop near Big Sandy, Montana. After holding several local positions, he won election to the Montana Senate in 1998, and worked his way up to become the chief presiding officer.

Faced with term limits in the Montana Senate, he won election to the U.S. Senate in 2006. He is seeking his fourth term this year.

Jonas Rides At The Door, Blackfeet, is a Marine Corps combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient from Missoula who served in the Iraq War. He said Tester has been an ally with a good record with Native veterans.

Rides At The Door hopes there is big Native turnout on Election Day.

“We can be the change, get out and vote and change this election,” he said.

Controversial remarks

Sheehy, 38, a former Navy Seal, is a businessman who founded Bridger Aerospace, an aerial firefighting and wildfire management company that is based in Belgrade, Montana. He also co-founded a cattle company that produces Montana beef.

He has drawn sharp criticism over the remarks he made during public events that were recorded on audio.

In the clips, Sheehy is heard saying that as a rancher, he is involved on the Crow Reservation, and that roping and branding is “a great way to bond with all the Indians while they’re drunk at 8 a.m.”

Additionally, at a different event, he said that while participating in the Crow Fair parade, “They’ll let you know when they like you or not, if Coors Light cans flying by your head… They respect that.”

The comments were quickly condemned by tribal leaders throughout the state, who called for him to apologize. The Democratic members of the Montana American Indian Caucus expressed their disappointment with the comments as well, saying the remarks perpetuate racist stereotypes.

Republican businessman Tim Sheehy is challenging incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester in the Nov. 5, 2024, election. Here, he addresses suppoters at a primary election night party in Gallatin Gateway, Montana, on June 4, 2024. (Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP)

“The Montana American Indian Caucus cannot express how let down we are by your remarks, where we can hear you disparaging the Crow Nation,” the caucus said in a statement. “Your words perpetuate the damaging and racist stereotype of ‘the drunken Indian.’ This stereotype, and others like it, hurts our young people and contributes to limitations on their opportunity to succeed…Your words are wrong, derogatory, and hurtful to a racial population that is fighting for equality and to improve their homeland.”

During a debate between the two candidates, Tester called for an apology. Sheehy didn’t explicitly apologize but did take accountability for the comments.

“The reality is, yeah, insensitive,” Sheehy said. “I come from the military, as many of our tribal members do. You know we make insensitive jokes and probably off-color sometimes, and you know, I’m an adult, I’ll take accountability for that, but let’s not distract from the issues that our tribal communities are suffering.”

Sheehy has also drawn questions about a bullet wound in his arm, which he said came from a firefight while he was serving in Afghanistan. Glacier National Park Ranger Kim Peach, however, said Sheehy told hospital officials in 2015 that he had been injured by an accidental discharge of his weapon in the park.

The park ranger repeated the accusation in an advertisement from a pro-Tester political action committee, but acknowledged that the ad had been recorded before he spoke publicly about the allegations. Republicans said the ranger is not credible.

“He’s shifting his story left and right because he is a liar and a Democrat partisan,” said Mike Berg with the National Republican Senatorial Committee, according to The Associated Press.

Tester said Sheehy should release his medical records to clear up the dispute, adding: “Stolen valor is a huge problem.”

Follow the money

The race has drawn a major influx of campaign funding.

Democrats, fighting to keep the majority in the Senate, are on track to outspend Republicans by almost $50 million in the Montana race, according to Federal Election Commission filings and the media tracking firm AdImpact.

Total spending is expected to exceed $315 million, or about $487 for each of the state’s 648,000 active registered voters — a record for a congressional race on a per-voter basis, according to party officials.

The Associated Press reported that much of the money traces back to shadowy political committees with wealthy donors. The non-partisan Campaign Legal Center sued over alleged financial transparency violations by a pro-Tester group, Last Best Place PAC, that has amplified some of the claims against Sheehy. Another complaint says the advocacy group used a straw donor to conceal more than $2.5 million in contributions to political committees, including one supporting Sheehy.

A Sheehy victory could shift the balance of power to Republicans.

This story contains material from The Associated Press.

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President Biden to issue boarding school apology – at last

Mary Annette Pember
ICT

More than 150 years after the first Native children were forced to attend Indian boarding schools that robbed them of their families, culture and language, President Joe Biden will issue a long-awaited apology for the dark history that has left generational damage among Indigenous peoples.

Biden is set to present the apology and a plan for helping tribal communities heal from the enduring traumas on Friday, Oct. 25, at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, marking his first visit to tribal lands as president.

It’s an apology that Native people have been seeking for decades.

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“This apology is an acknowledgement that the President of the United States sees and hears them,” said U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, Laguna Pueblo, whose family members attended Indian boarding schools.

“This is an acknowledgement of a horrific history,” Haaland told ICT in an interview. “This happened in our country.”

Boarding school survivor Jim LaBelle, Inupiaq, right, speaks to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland during the Interior Department’s “Road to Healing” meeting on Oct. 22, 2023, in Anchorage, Alaska. The tours are being held around the U.S. to hear from survivors of Indian boarding schools. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

For Deb Parker, chief executive of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, known as NABS, it was an emotional moment to learn an apology would finally be made.

“It’s time,” Parker said, her voice taut with emotion as she waited to board Air Force One Thursday on her way to Arizona with Biden, Haaland. Five tribal leaders were also on the plane, including Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis, Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin Chairwoman Gena Kakkak, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation Chairman Rodney Butler and Bay Mills Indian Community Chairwoman Whitney Gravelle.

“I think he has it in his heart to understand the pain and trauma that we and our loved ones have suffered,” said Parker, of the Tulalip Tribes. “It takes a strong president to deliver this apology.”

Deborah Parker, Tulalip, is chief executive of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, known as NABS. She poses for a photo following the Interior Department’s press conference on its federal boarding school investigation in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, May 11, 2022. (Photo by Jourdan Bennett-Begaye/ICT)

The apology comes just three months after the U.S. Department of the Interior released a final report in July of its investigation into the U.S. boarding school system after gathering evidence and witness testimony during a year-long “Road to Healing Tour.”

The first item on the Federal Indian Boarding School Investigative Report’s list of recommendations was for the United States to apologize for and acknowledge that generations of Native children were stolen from their families, and often severely beaten and abused in government and private boarding schools. Many of them died at the schools and were never sent home.

The recommendations also call for a Truth and Healing Commission to investigate further, a memorial to acknowledge those who attended, and for the U.S. to invest in tribal communities to help individual and community healing, revitalization of Native languages and improvements to Indian education. Details of Biden’s proposals had not been released by Thursday afternoon.

Haaland described the president’s apology for the U.S.’s role in operating Indian boarding schools as an example of his ongoing commitment to Indian Country.

“It’s very meaningful to me and I think it will be meaningful to many people,” Haaland told ICT.

Navajo President Buu Nygren praised Biden’s decision. His grandmother was taken to the Sherman Institute Indian boarding school in Riverside, California, about 700 miles from the Navajo Nation, he said in a statement.

“This dark chapter caused untold suffering, trauma, and loss, and its impact still reverberates in our communities today, “Nygren said. “By recognizing this tragic legacy, President Biden honors the resilience of the survivors and their families, many of whom carry the weight of these experiences …

Ahe’hee’, thank you, President Biden, for your commitment to reconciliation and justice,” he said. 

Why has it taken so long?

The United States lags years behind Canada and even the Catholic Church in offering an apology for residential boarding schools, which were largely patterned after the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania.

Thousands of Native children attended those schools in the U.S. and many died at the schools without ever returning to their families.

Related ICT stories:
Apologize! Report calls for government to own up to abusive boarding school history
Truth and healing commission gains ground
‘We all carry the trauma in our hearts’
‘Our children came home with moccasins’
Buried Secrets: Red Cloud takes the lead in uncovering boarding school past
Papal Visit: Apology at last in Canada

Canada’s then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized in 2008 for the government’s role in operating Indian residential schools in 2008, and Pope Francis apologized in 2022 in Canada for the role played by members of the Catholic Church in running residential schools. The U.S. Catholic Bishops apologized this year for the church’s role in boarding schools.

“In order to apologize, you have to recognize that something wrong happened,” Parker said. “I don’t think the United States was ready to acknowledge what they did, not only to Native children but also the parents, grandparents and the entire community.”

“This was a crime; now it’s time to examine that crime.”

Pope Francis prepares to deliver his apology to Indigenous people in Canada on July 25, 2022, in Maskwacis, Alberta, Canada, with chiefs of the four nations on whose land he stood. (Photo by Miles Morrisseau/ICT)

Haaland, the first Native member of a presidential cabinet, spent more than a year on the cross-country Road to Healing Tour, gathering testimony from boarding school survivors and family members. Bryan Newland, assistant secretary of the Bureau of Indian Affairs who is of the Bay Mills Community, also attended, and authored the final report and recommendations.

Haaland described listening to hundreds of stories from boarding school survivors and descendants during the tour. Haaland’s grandparents and great-grandparents were taken away from their families to attend boarding schools.

“I’ve lived this all of my life,” she said. “The federal government spent exorbitant amounts of taxpayer funding to essentially eradicate the Native culture, languages and traditions of these children.”

Headstones at the cemetery on the grounds of the former Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania mark the graves of children who died at the school. (Photo by the Associated Press)

While in Congress as a U.S. representative from New Mexico, Haaland worked with U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to introduce a bill in 2020 to create a Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policy in the United States. The bill was later redrafted and re-introduced in Congress, and is now awaiting a vote in Congress.

“We went to Capitol Hill and testified in support of that bill,” Haaland said. “There’s not a lot of time left, but I hope Congress makes the right decision.”

Few people in the United States outside of Indian Country were even aware of Indian boarding school history, Haaland said.

“So many Native folks around the country have moved this issue forward,” she said. “We stand on the shoulders of our ancestors always.”

Biden’s apology is expected to include a commitment to fund Native language revitalization projects. Haaland noted that although Native Americans are not a monolith, one thing most survivors and descendants agreed on was regret that their languages were stolen from them.

“We are making a concerted effort to ensure the funding is there in the best way tribes want to support language revitalization,” she said.

Native language isn’t just language, she said, it’s culture, tradition, geography, and science. She said both the president and first lady Jill Biden are supportive of language revitalization.

“It’s the foundation of who we are,” she said.

She said her own mother didn’t teach her or her siblings their language.

“My mother was afraid to teach us because of her time in boarding school; that’s one of the things that we heard constantly,” she said.

Haaland was on her way to Arizona Friday, along with tribal leaders including Gila River Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis, who is hosting the announcement Friday, and Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin Chairwoman Gena Kakkak, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation of Connecticut Chairman Rodney Butler and Bay Mills Indian Community Whitney Gravelle.

“When a sitting President makes an apology like this, it’s a big deal,” Haaland said. “I’m honored to travel with him when he makes his first visit to Indian Country and honored to stand by his side when this happens.”

Parker said the apology is just the first step toward healing for Indian Country.

“This (the apology) is only the beginning,” Parker said. “The dark secrets of the past need to be released. We cannot keep suffering intergenerational trauma for the things that were done to us.”

What’s next?

For some, however, the apology is too little, too late.

“It’s like a slap in the face,” said Arthur “Art” Zimiga, an Oglala Lakota elder with years of experience in Indian education on a tribal, federal and local level. “Generation after generation for Indigenous people, educational systems neglected their religious beliefs, their culture, their own freedom of speech.”

An apology without action is a shallow apology, Zimiga said. The elder expressed frustration at a lack of action from the president. “With the stroke of a pen (President Biden) could give us land back, the lands that are being used for national parks. What would that restitution be? Look at the physical health of Native people today, statistics on economic development or the land taken through policies such as the Dawes Act. These are all part of the ways that Native people have been disenfranchised and disinherited. If you’re going to say sorry to someone, there has to be restitution.”

When Amy Sazue first heard that the president would be delivering a formal apology for the boarding school era, the Sicangu Lakota woman was speechless.

“It’s a little hard to wrap my head around it, I’ve been processing it all day,” Sazue said. “It’s a natural expectation that this would at some point be acknowledged out loud, but I was just speechless, it’s long overdue.”

Sazue is executive director of Remembering the Children, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the history of the Rapid City Indian Boarding School and the children who never made it home.

The Rapid City school was a federally run boarding school on the city’s west side aimed at teaching middle school students with a military-style daily routine. More than 2,000 students from across the nation were brought to the school over its 35-year run; more than 50 of these students never made it home.

Sazue, like many others, believes this is just the first step.

“An apology needs to be followed by action, it needs to be followed by commitment,” Sazue said. “I believe wholeheartedly that for healing and reconciliation to even be possible this was necessary. The United States Government and the United States President need to apologize and frankly acknowledge the harm caused by federal policy.

When Nick Tilsen heard the news of a formal presidential apology for the boarding school era, he experienced a mix of emotions, the NDN Collective founder said.

“I was choked up immediately, I felt all the emotions of it,” Tilsen said. “And then I immediately transitioned into thinking, ‘Okay, an apology must have action. You can’t just apologize for something that has destroyed nations of people and not have it followed up with action. This is an issue that has impacted every single household.”

Action, the Oglala Lakota man said, should come in the form of granting clemency to Leonard Peltier, who himself is a boarding school survivor.

“As you apologize for boarding schools, you cannot keep the longest-living Indigenous political prisoner incarcerated,” Tilsen said.

Peltier is currently serving two consecutive life sentences in connection to the deaths of two FBI agents in South Dakota in 1975. The Turtle Mountain Anishinaabe elder is currently serving his time in the Coleman I Maximum Security Prison in Coleman, Fla., and was denied parole earlier this year.

Tilsen also said action should include rescinding medals of honor given to the Seventh Cavalry Regiment for its involvement in the Wounded Knee Massacre, pass the Truth and Reconciliation healing bill and work to make unprecedented investments into Indigenous language and education.

“Those are the two things he can do right now before the inauguration and second, make it part of the next administration to carry the other things forth,” Tilsen said.

Moving forward, Tilsen emphasized the need for Indigenous people to keep each other in prayer as the government begins to acknowledge the harm it has caused them and their ancestors.

“We have to hold all of our people and all of our ancestors and elders with love and with prayer right now at this moment in history, while we’re pivoting toward justice,” Tilsen said. “This is one of the most historic moments in the history of this country because of how much damage boarding schools caused.” 

Boarding School Report
The Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative’s second and final investigative report released on July 30, 2024, by the U.S. Department of the Interior includes eight recommendations from Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, who authored the report. Here are the recommendations:
*Apology: The U.S. government should acknowledge its role in a national policy of forced assimilation of Native children and issue a formal apology to individuals, families and tribes that were harmed by U.S. policy.
*Investments: The U.S. should invest in tribal communities in five key areas: individual and community healing; family preservation and reunification, including supporting tribal jurisdiction over Indian child welfare cases; violence prevention on tribal lands; improving Indian education; and working to revitalize First American languages.
*A national memorial: The U.S. government should establish a national memorial to acknowledge and commemorate the experiences of Native people within the federal Indian boarding school system.
*Repatriations: The government should identify children interred at school burial sites and help repatriate their remains
*Return school lands: The government should work to return the federal Indian boarding school sites to tribal ownership.
*Tell the story: The government should work with institutions to educate the public about federal Indian boarding schools and their impact on communities.
*Further research: The government should study how policies of child removal, confinement and forced assimilation have impacted generations of families, particularly the present-day health and economic impacts.
*Advance international relations: The government should work with other countries such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand with their own similar but unique histories of boarding schools and assimilationist policies, to determine best practices for healing and redress. 

Updated: This story has been updated to include reaction from across Indian Country to the news of the apology.

Amelia Schafer contributed to this report.

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Tim Walz heads to Navajo Nation

ICT Staff

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz is set to visit Window Rock, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation on Saturday, Oct. 26, as part of ongoing effort by the Harris-Walz campaign to reach out to Native voters.

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The visit follows a series of events by Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, and Walz in the battleground state of Arizona, where polls show a close race between Harris and former Pres. Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.

Walz is set to speak at an early voting event as a wave of new radio and television campaign ads are airing on tribal radio and stations in the area.

“Arizona Democrats have deep relationships on the ground in the Navajo Nation building up organizing and outreach infrastructure, and earning support from Native American voters for over 15 years,” according to a statement released by the Harris for President campaign.

“This cycle, the Arizona Harris-Walz campaign is taking no vote for granted …”

Related story:
Harris-Walz campaign hits the ground running in Arizona

More than 70 tribal leaders recently endorsed the Harris-Walz campaign, with about one-fourth from Arizona, according to campaign officials. Among the tribes endorsing the Harris-Walz ticket are the Ak-Chin Indian Community, Colorado River Indian Tribes, Gila River Indian Community, Kaibab Navajo Nation, Paiute Tribe, Pueblo of Zuni, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, San Carlos Apache Tribe, San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, and the Tohono O’odham Nation, officials said.

Walz met with tribal leaders at the Gila River Indian Community on Oct. 9, as early voting in person began in Arizona. Walz then moved on to Tucson where he and Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance held dueling campaign events.

Harris held a rally in Phoenix the following day, on Oct. 10, and Trump held a rally on Oct. 12 in Prescott Valley, north of Phoenix. Harris also met recently with Native youth.

The Harris-Walz campaign has set up a national organizing program, Native Americans for Harris-Walz, to mobilize Native voters. The campaign also has set up a tribal organizing team with 29 staffers in tribal communities, including the Navajo Nation, White Mountain Apache, Gila River and Tohono O’odham, campaign officials said.

The statement released by the campaign said Walz’s visit reflects the Harris-Walz campaign’s commitment to tribal sovereignty and support for Arizona’s 22 federally recognized tribes as it works to “lower costs for their families, invest in tribal entrepreneurs and businesses, and make affordable health care more accessible.”

Walz, as governor of Minnesota, has worked closely with tribes there and ran for office with now-Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, White Earth Band of Ojibwe, who would advance to become the nation’s first female Native governor if Harris and Walz win the Nov. 5 election.

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Rural Vote: Priorities in Arizona’s Most Underserved Communities

Organizaciones como RAZE se enfocan en amplificar las necesidades de esos sectores del Estados que pocas veces son escuchados en los procesos electorales, pero que siguen siendo cruciales para los candidatos.

La sede de Rural Arizona Engagement (RAZE, por sus siglas en inglés) en Coolidge, Arizona, en el Condado Pinal (Foto: Daniel Robles).

➡ Texto: Carlos Torres Bujanda

➡ Fotos: Daniel Robles

Brianda Benítez vive con zozobra cada ocasión que su madre tiene que hacerse sus chequeos médicos. Ella vive en Casa Grande, Arizona, una comunidad ubicada a unas 50 millas al sur de Phoenix, en donde escasean los recursos para la comunidad.

“Nuestra área donde vivimos es más pequeña que en lugares como Phoenix o Tucson, ahí se siente más que la aseguranza no es accesible para todos. Por ejemplo yo tengo a mi mamá que ahorita no está trabajando, toda su vida se esforzó pero ahora resulta que no califica para recibir asistencia médica de ninguna clase, y aparte tenemos que salir a que se atienda a otras ciudades porque en Casa Grande no hay especialistas”, relató Benítez, mientras su voz se quebraba y sus ojos se llenaban de lágrimas.

Lo que Benitez relata no es un hecho aislado; a pesar del crecimiento que ha tenido Casa Grande en los últimos 10 años, aún hay muchos sectores que aún no satisfacen las necesidades básicas de la población como los servicios de salud, vivienda, trabajos y otros. Esto es lo que impulsó la creación de la organización Rural Arizona Engagement (RAZE, por sus siglas en inglés), cuya misión es amplificar y empoderar esos lugares menos atendidos del estado.

Además RAZE se encarga de promover el voto entre las minorías en un territorio hostil hacia los inmigrantes, hacer que su voz se escuche a la hora de exigir sus derechos, lograr que se sientan representados ante las autoridades, contar no solamente con servicios básicos, como vivienda accesible, atención médica de calidad, escuelas en buenas condiciones, seguridad pública, entre otros. 

Brianda Benítez vive en Casa Grande, Arizona, y recibió asistencia de RAZE (Foto: Daniel Robles).

Pablo Correa es el director ejecutivo de RAZE, y -en la sede ubicada en la ciudad de Coolidge, en el Condado Pinal- platicó acerca de la tarea de esta organización en su tarea de involucrar cívicamente a las minorías en las comunidades rurales del estado, además de ayudarlas a que su voz sea escuchada y que se sientan representadas ante las autoridades.

“Yo era una persona de clase trabajadora que criaba a una familia de clase media y quería representar a mi comunidad de una manera más amplia y entonces decidí involucrarme más cívicamente, ya que veía cómo personas como los latinos, nativos americanos y afroamericanos no tenían representación y sus comunidades lucían abandonadas”, comentó Correa sobre las razones para iniciar esta organización.

El director ejecutivo de RAZE recordó que la apatía y el temor de las personas a querer participar fueron algunas de las dificultades que encontraron en los inicios de la organización fundada en Casa Grande, Arizona, en mayo de 2018.  

Pablo Correa, director ejecutivo en RAZE (Foto: Daniel Robles).

RAZE tiene oficinas en los condados de Pinal, Pima, Yuma, Mojave, Coconino y Cochise, en las que se desarrollan programas de participación cívica no partidista como Sal a Votar, registro de votantes y liderazgo juvenil.

Uno de los objetivos de RAZE es identificar los problemas que existen en las comunidades rurales donde están sus oficinas, que pueden diferir aunque sean, en apariencia, zonas parecidas. 

“Por ejemplo, en el área rural del Condado Pinal está la problemática de la falta de vivienda accesible; en Yuma hemos identificado la necesidad del mejoramiento de la infraestructura en cuanto a servicios básico como agua potable, suministro de energía eléctrica, acceso a escuelas en buenas condiciones, atención médica de calidad y esto se expande a comunidades como San Luis y Somerton; mientras que en Cochise está la falta de agua potable”, agregó Correa.  

El director ejecutivo de RAZE añadió que se trata de plantearse preguntas como “¿Qué están buscando? ¿Qué podemos ayudar a construir o a cambiar en su comunidad que haría la vida mejor?”.

Coolidge, ciudad ubicada en el Condado Pinal, en Arizona; en 2022 tenía una población aproximada de 16 mil habitantes (Foto: Daniel Robles).

Respecto a cómo motivar a los jóvenes o las personas en general a formar parte de RAZE, Correa recordó que todos tienen un propósito en común y que esas son las cosas que los unen para poder mantener o encontrar a los voluntarios del programa.

“Hay que saber lo que realmente motiva a la gente, y esto ocurre en distintas regiones, todas son cosas diferentes. Es que les preguntamos qué les importa, qué dirección quieren tomar con sus vidas y qué dirección quieren tomar sus comunidades, y todos vamos en una dirección similar”, agregó.

Otro de los fenómenos que han encontrado es la polarización política, que considera que se la encrudecido desde la aparición en el escenario político de Donald Trump, expresidente entre 2016 y 2021, y en la actualidad nuevamente candidato republicano a la Casa Blanca. Correa admitió que ello ha afectado la manera en que los voluntarios realizan su trabajo. “La polarización realmente afecta el trabajo que hacemos aquí, y hacemos un trabajo no partidista. Simplemente sentimos que estar involucrados, tener acceso a las urnas, votar, ya sabes, asegurarnos de que podemos registrarnos y que nuestras inscripciones serán contadas, y que nuestros votos serán contados son todos temas no partidistas”, manifestó.

Sobre el tipo de trabajo que realiza RAZE en la comunidad en la actualidad, Correa aseguró que es ante todo “empoderar a las comunidades y conseguir votos así como empoderarse para que tomen decisiones en estos espacios también”.

Una de las principales tareas que realiza RAZE en la comunidad es enseñar sobre cómo votar y las características del proceso electoral, como detalla este gráfico en su sede en Coolidge (Foto: Daniel Robles).

Pero, ¿qué caracteriza a una comunidad como rural, para que RAZE realice su trabajo?

“La forma en que determinamos qué es una comunidad rural es muy interesante. Hay definiciones federales cuando se trata del Censo sobre la densidad de población, y ese es definitivamente el punto de partida. Lo que nos ayuda a determinar esto es si están recibiendo los recursos necesarios para generar cambios en su comunidad y, ya sabes, generar cambios en el estado”, dijo. 

De acuerdo a la definición del Departamento de Agricultura de los Estados Unidos (USDA, por sus siglas en inglés), una comunidad rural se define como “la que tiene menos de 5,000 residentes y 2,000 unidades de vivienda”.  

Por último, Correa dejó un mensaje a la comunidad respecto a RAZE: “Nuestra organización está para ser un recurso y un faro. Entonces, si en tus valores está preocuparte por la comunidad, por tu familia, por cumplir con nuestro deber cívico, entonces RAZE es un hogar para ti”.

“Y si tus valores son el empoderamiento de las comunidades rurales, de las personas de color, de aquellos que han sido privados de sus derechos a lo largo de la historia de este país y del estado, RAZE también es un lugar para ti. Por eso, nos encantaría que interactuaran con nosotros. Estamos en todas las redes sociales en @ruralazengage”.

La oficina de RAZE en el Condado Pinal; también tiene sedes en los condados Pima, Yuma, Mojave, Coconino y Cochise (Foto: Daniel Robles).

Los colaboradores de RAZE, su columna vertebral

Pero el trabajo no lo realiza Correa solo: detrás de él tiene un grupo de coordinadores y voluntarios entusiasmados y convencidos de que es posible lograr un cambio en las zonas rurales. Una de esas personas es Esmeralda “Esme” Barajas, quien es directora regional de campañas del sur de Arizona para RAZE.  

Barajas se ha enfrentado a la negativa de las personas a registrarse para votar o actualizar sus datos, o bien el desconocimiento de lo que se debe de hacer para emitir su sufragio. “Lo que he visto más es que mucha gente no sabe cómo votar, o cómo comenzar, o cómo hacer su proceso de registro. Además mucha gente no vota porque piensa que no es importante y también está la idea de que su voto no cuenta”, dijo.

Barajas recordó que cuando se encuentra ante esas situaciones trata hacer entender que en verdad su voto puede hacer la diferencia, no solo a nivel federal o estatal, sino también para cuestiones tan cercanas como asuntos de juntas escolares, la recolección de basura, servicios básicos, entre otras.

“Lo que trato de explicarles es que no solamente es lo federal, sino también aquí en la comunidad  porque muchas veces son cuestiones respecto a cómo van a trabajar las escuelas, muchas cosas como los trabajos, cosas que están en la comunidad, como los concilios municipales”, agregó.

Una colaboradora de RAZE, en un día de trabajo en la sede de Coolidge, Arizona (Foto: Daniel Robles).

Andrea Varela es la directora de organizadores en RAZE. Ella se encarga de que sus organizadores y voluntarios estén presentes en la comunidad, para asuntos como “llamadas, tocar puertas, hacer textos y también tener eventos para escuchar cuáles son los problemas y los asuntos que quieren arreglar en las comunidades que nosotros servimos”, dijo.

Varela añadió que uno de los retos es encontrar a las personas que estén dispuestas a participar con RAZE, sobre todo en comunidades rurales.

“Es muy difícil encontrar voluntarios, especialmente en comunidades que han sido marginalizadas y que su voz no ha sido tomada en cuenta. Trabajamos en esas comunidades porque queremos que sepan que sus voces cuentan y que queremos luchar por los asuntos y las cosas en la comunidad que quieran cambiar o que enfrentan en su vida diaria”, añadió.

Otra de las razones que Varela mencionó para que las personas no deseen involucrarse es que ya tienen las responsabilidades de tener que ir a trabajar y muchas de ellas tienen dos empleos.

Andrea Varela, directora de organizadores en RAZE (Foto: Daniel Robles).

Actualmente en el equipo de RAZE hay unas 100 personas, algunas como organizadoras y otras como voluntarias en los seis condados donde están presentes, pero no son suficientes.

“¿Que si son suficientes? Pues ahorita no. Queremos trabajar en áreas que son difíciles de organizar, porque ahí se necesita más apoyo y representación. Y que se reflejen en representantes como legisladores, miembros del concilio municipal o del condado, de juntas escolares, mesas directivas de organizaciones civiles y así”, indicó. 

En RAZE trabajan cerca de 100 personas, entre organizadoras y voluntarias; en la foto, parte del equipo en la sede de Coolidge (Foto: Daniel Robles).

Las minorías no se sienten representadas en las comunidades rurales

El color de piel u origen afecta a las personas en áreas rurales a la hora de sentirse representadas para hacer sentir su voz y expresar sus necesidades, aseguró la directora de organizadores de RAZE.

Varela comentó que esta diferencia sí es “sensible” y cómo distintos asuntos tocan a la comunidad.

“Son diferentes los asuntos entre los afroamericanos, las comunidades indígenas y las comunidades hispanas. Y sienten que no son representados, no son representados en el gobierno, no son representados en la comunidad, no se ve personas que son líderes, que se vean como ellos, y eso no crea fe entre la comunidad. Mientras que los miembros de comunidades anglosajonas no tienen tanto miedo de ser involucrarse, ser voluntarios, registrar a votantes, asistir a esos foros. Y nosotros entendemos que, en comunidades de color, sienten más que no tienen voz”, agregó.

Pero también Varela comentó que han visto cómo, poco a poco, la comunidad se ha involucrado en los foros informativos, con personas de distintas edades. 

“Hemos visto, en los últimos tres o cuatro meses, que la participación en nuestras comunidades ha crecido mucho. Recuerdo que, hace un año, ninguna persona quería salir (de su casa) para atender un foro y hace una semana tuvimos uno en el condado de Cochise y doce personas asistieron”, comparó.

Quienes colaboran y trabajan en RAZE orientan a las comunidades en temas diversos, desde educación cívica hasta asistencia por servicios básicos de infraestructura (Foto: Daniel Robles).

No siempre son bienvenidos

Abel Álvarez es uno de los voluntarios que ha estado en la calle, en contacto directo con la población para registrar a nuevos votantes, o para que actualicen sus datos en el registro de votantes. “Lo primero que hice con RAZE fue registrar a la gente para votar. Iba a las tiendas. Nomás preguntaba a las personas: ¿ya están registradas para votar o tienen sus datos actualizados?”, recordó.

En un principio Álvarez, manifestó que se sintió algo “raro” por abordar a las personas en un tema tan personal. Logró reacciones de todo tipo. “Se me hizo muy raro que iba con la gente en su carro preguntando si ya se había registrado para votar porque es una pregunta bien personal y mucha gente se apartaba de mí o me cuestionaba por qué hacía esas preguntas, o qué me daba derecho a hacerlas”, recordó.

También aceptó que tuvo miedo cuando las personas se comportaron de manera hostil con él. “El ambiente puede ser bien hostile. A veces he tenido miedo porque mucha gente aquí en Casa Grande es hostile y dice ‘pues te voy a seguir’. Era algo bien extraño pero con la práctica se hizo más fácil”, concluyó.

Coolidge, en Arizona, se encuentra a 56 millas (90 kilómetros) de Phoenix, la capital (Foto: Daniel Robles).
Arte: Daniel Robles.
Arte: Daniel Robles.

The post Voto Rural: Las prioridades en las comunidades más desatendidas de Arizona appeared first on Conecta Arizona.

After half a century, the Apache trout swims off the threatened species list

When 19th-century miners first scouted eastern Arizona, they found that the region’s alpine streams contained more golden wealth than merely ore. The White Mountains are home to the Apache trout, one of only two native salmonids within Arizona’s borders. They’re lovely fish, endowed with mustard flanks, pink and purple undertones, and constellations of black spots. Miners called them “yellow trout” or “yellowbellies.” 

Colonization wasn’t kind to the Apache trout. The newcomers caught and ate them by the bushel, and logging, overgrazing and mining degraded their mountain creeks. Worst of all were the legions of non-native trout — brook, brown and rainbow — that the state stocked for mining camps and anglers, which swiftly overwhelmed their native rivals. When the first iteration of the Endangered Species Act passed in 1967, Apache trout were protected by it, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service classified the species as threatened in 1975. 

Signage at an event hosted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at a Bass Pro Shops in Mesa, Arizona, celebrates the Apache trout. Credit: Zach Duncan/High Country News
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland speaks at the public announcement event on September 4, 2024. Other speakers at the event included Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, White Mountain Apache Tribe Chairman Kasey Velasquez, and Chris Wood, president and CEO of Trout Unlimited. Credit: Zach Duncan/High Country News

This is a familiar ecological saga in the West, where native trout are among the most imperiled groups of species. But thanks to the concerted efforts of federal and state agencies, nonprofits and the White Mountain Apache Tribe, the Apache trout gradually recovered. On Sept. 4, the Fish and Wildlife Service removed Oncorhynchus apache from the federal list of threatened and endangered species — making it the first American sportfish to achieve delisting. The fish’s recovery, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement, “reminds us of the transformational power that collaborative conservation efforts — grounded in Indigenous Knowledge — can have on fish and wildlife.”

Yet the Apache trout’s future is far from assured. The West is rapidly getting hotter, drier and more flammable — hardly promising for a fish dependent on cold, clear flows. “I don’t see this as, ‘OK, it’s time to stop, we’re patting ourselves on the back,” said Nathan Rees, Arizona state director for Trout Unlimited.

A fish barrier on the West Fork Black River. These barriers prevent upstream migration of nonnative species into Apache trout habitat. Credit: Zach Duncan/High Country News

ALTHOUGH CONSERVATION SUCCESS stories never have single authors, the White Mountain Apache Tribe deserves the lion’s share of credit for the trout’s comeback. By the 1940s, Apache trout endured in just 12 streams — all of them on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. (At the time, Apache trout were lumped together with Arizona’s other endemic salmonid, the Gila trout; not until 1972 did biologists reclassify the Apache as a separate species.) In 1955, the tribe, which regards the trout as sacred, closed its streams to sportfishing — an act of radical foresight that predated the trout’s federal listing by more than a decade.

In the 1980s, the White Mountain Apache, aided by a panoply of agencies, began assisting Apache trout in earnest. Land managers closed forest roads, improved logging management and fenced cattle out of streams to ease pressure on the fish’s habitat. Tribal and state agency staff bred Apache trout in captivity and returned them to their former public-land domains. Slowly, the fish’s population began to tick upward. 

“The species was resilient and would just persevere.” 

Tim Gatewood, the White Mountain Apache Tribe’s longtime fisheries manager, photographed near Hawley Lake, in the White Mountain Apache Reservation. Credit: Zach Duncan/High Country News

“I think we’re the leaders,” said Tim Gatewood, the tribe’s longtime fisheries manager and a tribal member. “A lot of times, those guys that helped take part in management came through our office, and we kind of told them what we wanted.” 

Most crucially, fish managers curtailed the non-native fish that bedevil Apache trout. In many streams, agencies installed barriers to prevent invasive trout from penetrating Apache strongholds. With those headwaters secured, biologists set about purging the invaders, both with poison and currents of electricity. The process was hardly linear: Rock barriers failed and had to be replaced with sturdier concrete ones, and the 2011 Wallow Fire, the largest conflagration in Arizona’s history, killed thousands of Apache trout and incinerated riparian vegetation. Several times the fish was on the verge of delisting, only to narrowly fall short. 

“We’d get close, and then there’d be a setback,” said Julie Carter, aquatic wildlife branch chief for the Arizona Department of Game and Fish. “But the species was resilient and would just persevere.” 

Today, surveys indicate that the species currently inhabits less than a third of its former range, which once encompassed nearly 700 miles of stream. Still, recovery efforts have saved the fish from immediate jeopardy. According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, Arizona has 30 discrete populations of Apache trout, enough to satisfy the agency’s recovery plan. The Apache trout is now among a tiny handful of Western fish, alongside the Modoc sucker, the Oregon chub and the Borax Lake chub, ever to escape the threatened list — and the only one to which an angler might conceivably cast a line. 

Elva C. Lomayaktewa, District II Council Member releases Apache Trout into Hawley Lake, at a celebration of the Apache trout’s delisting from the federal list of threatened and endangered species. Credit: Zach Duncan/High Country News

IN ITS 2023 PROPOSED delisting rule for the Apache trout, Fish and Wildlife acknowledged that the Southwest suffers from “a megadrought that has large consequences for streamflows” and thus for the suitability of trout habitat. Megafires, too, remain a concern: According to the Service, some important drainages still face “a high risk of crown fire … and subsequent debris flows” that could smother trout streams.

For those reasons and more, not everyone is celebrating the trout’s delisting. In public comments submitted to Fish and Wildlife, Robin Silver, co-founder of the Center for Biological Diversity, excoriated the decision for its failure to account for “the foreseeable effects of climate change and related long-term impacts.” While the agency’s analysis suggested the fish’s prospects were fairly rosy for the next 30 years, Silver objected to the timeframe’s relative brevity. Silver also noted that some streams are still battered by overgrazing, and that non-native fish barriers aren’t foolproof. “The bottom line is that the habitat is objectively not protected,” Silver said. 

Over the next six decades, climate change’s impacts on Apache trout may be complex. According to one 2023 study, some formerly frigid headwaters could become just mild enough to support spawning trout, increasing Apache habitat. When the study’s authors incorporated the likelihood of reduced rain and snowfall into their model, however, they found that a number of Apache-bearing streams will become less hospitable by the year 2080. 

Apache trout are hardly the only Western salmonid in climate-related peril. A 2021 study found that the distribution of bull trout and cutthroat trout stands to contract, respectively, by 39% and 16% by 2080, as their streams become warmer, drier and more vulnerable to invasive species. Such projections present a conundrum for managers: How should agencies weigh a species’ current status against its dubious future? 

“The bottom line is that the habitat is objectively not protected.”

One answer is to pursue restoration projects aimed at enhancing climate resilience. This year or next, for instance, Trout Unlimited will begin to restore Thompson Meadow, a section of the Black River watershed degraded by overgrazing. According to Rees, the group intends to plant willows, fence out elk and construct more than 200 artificial beaver dams — efforts that will, in theory, cool the drainage’s overheated flows and bring back the complex shaded habitat that Apache trout require. The White Mountain Apache Tribe, the trout’s traditional keepers, has received more than $2.5 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act to replace derelict road culverts on trout-bearing creeks, allowing the fish to flee to cold headwaters as downstream reaches warm.

“I know (delisting) is not the end here,” said Gatewood. “It’s just more work.”

At dawn, the West Fork Black River reaches the edge of the meadow where the willows shade the banks and cool the stream. Credit: Zach Duncan/High Country News

This story is part of High Country News’ Conservation Beyond Boundaries project, which is supported by the BAND Foundation. hcn.org/cbb

The post After half a century, the Apache trout swims off the threatened species list appeared first on High Country News.

Second 2024 US presidential debate: We check what Harris and Trump said about immigration, abortion and other issues

Kamala Harris y Donald Trump durante el debate presidencial (Fotos: FactChequeado).
  • ➡ Por FactChequeado
  • Si sólo tienes unos segundos, lee estas líneas:
  • La vicepresidenta Kamala Harris, candidata presidencial por el Partido Demócrata, y el expresidente Donald Trump, candidato presidencial del Partido Republicano, participaron en un debate presidencial organizado por ABC News el 10 de septiembre de 2024.
  • Desde Factchequeado estamos realizando en directo chequeos y verificaciones de las afirmaciones de ambos candidatos para las Elecciones en Estados Unidos 2024 durante el debate presidencial.
  • Es falso que la criminalidad haya aumentado bajo el mandato de Biden, que la inflación era la más alta de la historia y que el exgobernador de Virginia apoyara el infanticidio, como afirmó Trump y necesita contexto la frase de Harris sobre que Trump dejó el peor desempleo desde la Gran Depresión.

El 10 de septiembre de 2024, la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris, candidata presidencial por el Partido Demócrata, y el expresidente Donald Trump, candidato presidencial del Partido Republicano, participaron en un debate presidencial organizado por ABC News, en el National Constitution Center de Filadelfia, Pensilvania. Ambos candidatos para las Elecciones en Estados Unidos 2024 hablaron sobre temas clave de la campaña, incluyendo economía, inmigración y el derecho al aborto.

Es la primera vez que ambos candidatos debaten de cara a las elecciones presidenciales del 5 de noviembre de 2024, luego de que Harris sustituyera al presidente Joe Biden en la campaña


TRUMP: “La criminalidad ha aumentado y está por las nubes y tenemos una nueva forma de criminalidad llamada crimen migrante y está ocurriendo a niveles que nadie pensó que fuese posible”

FALSO 

Los datos muestran que el crimen violento en Estados Unidos viene bajando desde el año 2020, incluyendo en las ciudades que han recibido recientemente altas cantidades de inmigrantes indocumentados, como Chicago, Los Ángeles, Nueva York y Miami.

Como puedes ver en la gráfica, tras un pico de crímenes violentos (asesinatos, asaltos agravados, robos y violaciones) en 2020, durante la pandemia de COVID-19, la tasa ha venido disminuyendo. En 2022, se situó en 380,7 por cada 100,000 habitantes, un nivel similar a la del año 2015, cuando fue de 373,3 por cada 100,000 habitantes.

El Buró Federal de Investigaciones (FBI, por sus siglas en inglés) todavía no ha publicado los datos definitivos del año 2023 y de lo que va de 2024. Pero sí publica trimestralmente reportes preliminares. En el más reciente, publicado el 10 de junio de 2024, el FBI indicó que la tasa de crímenes violentos disminuyó en un 15.2% entre enero y marzo de 2024, comparado con el mismo período en 2023. En ese período de 2024 los homicidios bajaron en un 26.4%, las violaciones en 25.7%, los robos en 17.8%, y los asaltos agravados en 15.1%.

Las cifras del FBI coinciden con los estudios de organizaciones independientes del gobierno, como la Major Cities Chief Association (una asociación nacional de cuerpos de policías de las ciudades principales del país), el Council on Criminal Justice (organización no partidista que promueve mejoras al sistema judicial penal), y AH Datalytics (empresa privada que monitorea cifras de criminalidad y hace cuadros comparativos de cifras de homicidios). 


HARRIS: “Trump nos dejó el peor desempleo desde la Gran Depresión” 

NECESITA CONTEXTO 

Harris afirmó que Trump dejó “el peor desempleo desde la Gran Depresión”. Durante la administración de Trump, el empleo en Estados Unidos creció de manera constante cada mes desde su llegada al poder en enero de 2017 hasta febrero de 2020, según indicaron los verificadores de Snopes tras analizar los datos de la Oficina de Estadísticas Laborales (BLS).

En febrero de 2017, la tasa de desempleo era del 4.6%, y alcanzó su nivel más bajo, del 3.5%, en septiembre de 2019 y nuevamente en febrero de 2020. Sin embargo, en marzo de 2020, la pandemia de COVID-19 golpeó con fuerza al país. 

En los meses posteriores, millones de estadounidenses perdieron sus trabajos, lo que generó una brusca caída en el crecimiento del empleo y un aumento acelerado del desempleo. En abril de 2020, con el impacto de la pandemia, el desempleo aumentó drásticamente hasta casi el 15%. En comparación, durante la Gran Depresión, la tasa de desempleo llegó al 24.9% en 1932. Para diciembre de 2020, el desempleo había disminuido al 6.7%.


TRUMP: “Yo no tenía inflación, virtualmente no inflación. Ellos tenían la inflación más alta, quizás en la historia de nuestro país” 

FALSO 

La inflación durante la administración de Joe Biden llegó a 9.1% en junio de 2022, según datos del Índice de Precios al Consumidor (CPI), pero no es la cifra más alta registrada en EE. UU.  

En marzo de 1980, se registró una inflación anual de 14.8%; en marzo de 1947, la inflación incrementó en un 20.1% respecto a los 12 meses anteriores y, en junio de 1920 aumentó un 23.7%, también en relación con los 12 meses anteriores,  según datos del CPI de la Oficina de Estadísticas Laborales (BLS, por sus siglas en inglés).

Trump también afirmó que el gobierno actual no heredó ninguna inflación. Según las cifras del BLS, la inflación anual registrada en enero de 2021 (cuando Biden asumió la presidencia) era de 1.4%. Actualmente, la inflación se encuentra en 2.9%, según el reporte del CPI de julio de 2024.


TRUMP: “El exgobernador de Virginia dice que la ejecución después del nacimiento está bien” 

FALSO 

Trump afirmó que el exgobernador de Virginia, Ralph Northam, dijo que la ejecución de un bebé después del nacimiento “está bien”. En realidad, es falso que Northam apoyara el infanticidio. 

Esta desinformación ya fue desmentida por Factchequeado durante el primer debate presidencial del 27 de junio de 2024 entre Trump y el presidente Biden. También por los verificadores de las agencias AP y Reuters.

Trump tergiversó unos comentarios que Northam hizo en 2019 sobre el aborto en Virginia en WTOP, una estación de radio de noticias que presta servicio al área metropolitana de Washington. En esa entrevista, Northam habló de los abortos en el tercer trimestre, que se realizan en casos “en los que puede haber deformidades graves”. “Cuando hablamos de abortos en el tercer trimestre, estos se realizan obviamente con el consentimiento de la madre y de más de un médicos. Y se realizan en casos donde puede haber deformidades graves o puede que el feto no sea viable”, afirmó. 

Acto seguido contó qué sucedería en el caso de que el feto no fuera viable: “El bebé nacería, se le mantendría cómodo, se le reanimaría si eso es lo que la madre y la familia desean. Y luego se produciría una conversación entre los médicos y la madre”. Este comentario fue rápidamente abordado por los comentaristas republicanos que, como informó Vox, tomaron sus palabras como “un respaldo al infanticidio”. 

En ese momento, un portavoz de Northam declaró a Vox que el exgobernador “de ninguna manera se estaba refiriendo a la eutanasia de bebés nacidos tras un aborto fallido”. Además, explicó que afirmó que sólo estaba tratando de describir las “circunstancias trágicas o difíciles” que a menudo implica el aborto tardío.

“Intentar extrapolar estos comentarios de otra manera es de mala fe y subraya exactamente por qué el exgobernador cree que los médicos y las mujeres, no los legisladores, deberían tomar estas decisiones médicas difíciles y profundamente personales”, dijo.

Además, sólo el 0.9% de los abortos en Estados Unidos se realizaron con más de 21 semanas de gestación en 2021 (el último año del que hay datos disponibles), según el Sistema de Vigilancia del Aborto de los CDC. Puedes consultar este y otros datos sobre los abortos para que no te engañen con desinformaciones en esta nota de Factchequeado.


TRUMP: “[Kamala Harris] era la ‘zar de la frontera’”

FALSO

El presidente Joe Biden, en marzo de 2021, le encomendó a la vicepresidenta, Kamala Harris, la tarea de “abordar las causas de la migración” proveniente específicamente de El Salvador, Guatemala y Honduras, en el llamado triángulo del Norte, pero eso no significa que estuviera formalmente “a cargo de la frontera”.

De la seguridad fronteriza está a cargo Alejandro Mayorkas, secretario del Departamento Seguridad Nacional (DHS) de Estados Unidos, porque dentro del DHS funciona la Oficina de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza (CBP).


HARRIS: “Trump ha dicho que en esta elección habrá un “baño de sangre” si el resultado no es de su agrado”

NECESITA CONTEXTO

La vicepresidenta, Kamala Harris, acusó al expresidente Donald Trump de haber pronosticado un “baño de sangre” [bloodbath] si el resultado no es de su agrado. Pero esta frase necesita contexto, porque Trump, cuando dijo eso, no se refería a una derrota en las elecciones, sino a “un periodo de pérdidas” económicas en un mitin sobre la industria del automóvil, como ya contamos en Factchequeado.

La referencia al “baño de sangre”, el expresidente y candidato republicano Trump la realizó durante un mitin el pasado 17 de marzo de 2024 en Vandalia (Ohio). El comentario se produjo en medio de un discurso sobre la industria del automóvil, los vehículos eléctricos y las plantas de producción de empresas chinas en México. 

Trump dijo ante los asistentes que iba “a imponer un arancel del 100% a cada automóvil que cruce la frontera” e impedir que las empresas chinas que producen vehículos en México los vendan en Estados Unidos [29:48 min]. Acto seguido pronunció la frase que se viralizó: “Si no salgo elegido, será un bloodbath [baño de sangre o periodo de pérdidas] para todo el país, eso será lo de menos, pero no venderán esos coches” [29:56 min].

La palabra “bloodbath” tiene diferentes significados. Es un término que en inglés estadounidense se puede traducir como periodo de pérdidas o recesión. Según el diccionario Collins, su traducción más cercana podría ser la de masacre, como una “matanza indiscriminada”. Pero en inglés estadounidense se añade una nueva acepción. En un contexto informal, se puede emplear también refiriéndose a un “período de pérdidas” o de fuerte “recesión”, o una “purga” o “despidos masivos”.

Por lo tanto, en el contexto que lo dice, las palabras de Trump sobre el “baño de sangre” no se referían a muertes o insurrecciones similares a las del asalto al Capitolio si el candidato republicano perdía las elecciones del 5 de noviembre de 2024, sino que Trump estaba hablando de cómo afectaba a la industria del automóvil la importación de coches chinos desde México, a la que pretendía poner aranceles si ganaba.

Factchequeado es un medio de verificación que construye una comunidad hispanohablante para contrarrestar la desinformación en Estados Unidos. ¿Quieres ser parte? Súmate y verifica los contenidos que recibes enviándolos a nuestro WhatsApp +16468736087 o a factchequeado.com/whatsapp.

Arte: Daniel Robles.

The post Segundo debate presidencial 2024 en Estados Unidos: chequeamos lo que dijeron Harris y Trump sobre inmigración, aborto y otros temas appeared first on Conecta Arizona.

Environment: What do vice presidential candidates Tim Walz and JD Vance propose and think?

Grand Canyon Village, en el Condado Coconino, Arizona, y una vista del Gran Cañón, un área clave para los recursos naturales del estado (Foto: Igor Passchier, Pexels).

✍🏽 Por Johani Carolina Ponce (colaboración especial para Conecta Arizona).

Tim Walz, gobernador de Minnesota y candidato demócrata a la vicepresidencia, se destaca por su firme apoyo a la acción climática y su liderazgo en la transición hacia una economía de energía limpia. En contraste, el candidato republicano a la vicepresidencia J.D. Vance, senador de Ohio y autor del libro Hillbilly Elegy, ha cambiado drásticamente sus posturas sobre el medio ambiente, pasando de escéptico del cambio climático y defensor del petróleo y gas a crítico de las políticas demócratas y entusiasta del fracking. Examinamos cómo estas transformaciones políticas podrían influir en el futuro de la política ambiental en Estados Unidos.

Arte: Daniel Robles.

🔵 TIM WALZ, LIDER EN ENERGIA LIMPIA Y POLITICAS CLIMATICAS 🔵

El gobernador de Minnesota, Tim Walz, es el candidato a vicepresidente del partido demócrata. Walz es un maestro que se convirtió en político. Fue elegido por primera vez para un cargo público en 2006, cuando logró que el 1.er Distrito Congresional rural de Minnesota cambiara de partido. Fue reelegido cinco veces antes de convertirse en gobernador de Minnesota en 2019.

Durante sus seis términos como congresista Walz se centró en temas agrícolas y en asuntos de veteranos, apoyado en su experiencia en la Guardia Nacional del Ejército. Sin embargo, en sus dos mandatos como gobernador ha emergido como uno de los principales promotores nacionales en la lucha contra el cambio climático.

“Cuando eres gobernador, claramente vas a abordar un conjunto más amplio de temas prioritarios. El cambio climático no es una excepción,” dijo Trent Bauserman, quien trabajó en la Casa Blanca de Obama y como asesor climático del ex Líder de la Mayoría de la Cámara de Representantes Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). “Creo que ha evolucionado a medida que su rol ha evolucionado y el problema del cambio climático ha evolucionado.”

En 2023, Walz firmó una ley histórica que exige que Minnesota obtenga toda su electricidad de fuentes eólicas, solares y otras libres de carbono para 2040. Esa ley se aprobó en medio de una sesión legislativa en la que los demócratas de Minnesota, en colaboración con el gobernador Walz, impulsaron casi 40 otras iniciativas climáticas, incluidas rebajas fiscales para vehículos eléctricos y un mayor acceso a estaciones de carga para estos vehículos.

“Con estas inversiones históricas, estamos posicionando a nuestro estado como un líder nacional en soluciones climáticas, asegurando que Minnesota siga siendo un gran lugar para vivir, trabajar y criar una familia para las generaciones futuras.”, manifestó Walz.

Economía de energía limpia

El 27 de junio de este año el gobernador Walz visitó una granja de energía eólica en Dexter, Minnesota, tras unas inundaciones catastróficas que devastaron partes del estado. Allí se llevó a cabo una firma ceremonial de la legislación que acortará y agilizará el proceso de permisos de energía. Se estima que las reformas ahorrarán entre 9 y 12 meses en el proceso de permisos y construcción de proyectos de energía renovable y transmisión. “Al firmar esta legislación, las comunidades de un extremo a otro de nuestro estado se enfrentan a meses de reconstrucción tras un evento climático extremo exacerbado por el cambio climático. Esta es una medida que ayudará a proteger nuestro medio ambiente y a poner en marcha los proyectos de energía limpia que van a ayudar a combatir el cambio climático”, aseguró el candidato demócrata a vicepresidente. “Hoy estamos eliminando burocracia para las empresas, ayudando a que más proyectos despeguen y apoyando al sector de empleos de energía limpia para facilitar la transición a una economía de energía limpia”.

Energía limpia para 2040

Minnesota debe avanzar hacia un 100 por ciento de energía limpia para 2040, conforme a un proyecto de ley que el gobernador demócrata firmó en febrero de 2023. Hizo campaña sobre este tema en dos ocasiones. Según esa ley, Minnesota hará la transición a fuentes de electricidad limpia incluso más rápido que California, que durante mucho tiempo ha sido líder en la acción climática estatal.

El historial climático más destacado desde Gore

En julio, la Agencia de Protección Ambiental (EPA, por sus siglas en inglés) otorgó a Minnesota una subvención de 200 millones de dólares para reducir las emisiones restaurando turberas, apoyando vehículos eléctricos y reduciendo el desperdicio de alimentos. La EPA, en su anuncio, agradeció a Walz “por su liderazgo y planes innovadores”.

“El gobernador Walz y su equipo fueron muy agresivos al intentar reunir una estrategia para atraer la mayor cantidad posible de fondos de la Ley de Reducción de la Inflación (IRA, por sus siglas en inglés),” dijo Jamie Long, líder de la mayoría en la Cámara de Representantes del estado, abogado ambientalista demócrata y defensor del clima.

Si la fórmula Harris-Walz resulta ganadora en las elecciones, Walz tendría el historial más sólido en cuestiones climáticas de cualquier presidente o vicepresidente entrante desde Al Gore. Gore, quien recibió el Premio Nobel de la Paz en 2007 por su activismo climático, expresó en un correo electrónico que Walz “es un líder probado en el tema climático y conoce el tema a fondo”.

Seth Schuster, portavoz de la campaña Harris-Walz, destacó que uno de los logros más significativos de Walz ha sido su constante apoyo al medio ambiente a lo largo de su carrera. “El gobernador Walz, quien creció cazando y pescando, ha dedicado toda su carrera a conservar nuestras tierras públicas y proteger nuestros recursos hídricos”.

Arte: Daniel Robles.

🔴 TRANSFORMACIONES AMBIENTALES EN LA CANDIDATURA DE J.D. VANCE 🔴

El candidato republicano a la vicepresidencia, J.D. Vance, actual senador de Ohio, es un firme defensor de la industria del petróleo y el gas. “La administración Biden está haciendo todo lo posible para subsidiar fuentes de energía alternativas y demonizar las fuentes de energía más confiables de nuestra nación”, escribió en una columna de opinión el año pasado. También expresa dudas sobre la influencia humana en el cambio climático. “Soy escéptico sobre la idea de que el cambio climático sea causado puramente por el hombre”, afirmó el Senador en el Foro de Liderazgo Americano de 2022 (2:08:35 en el video de YouTube al que se hace mención en el enlace).

El 97% de los científicos climáticos coinciden en que los seres humanos están causando el calentamiento global y el cambio climático. La mayoría de las principales organizaciones científicas del mundo han emitido declaraciones públicas que expresan esta postura, incluyendo academias científicas internacionales y estadounidenses, el Panel Intergubernamental sobre Cambio Climático de las Naciones Unidas, y una gran cantidad de cuerpos científicos de prestigio en todo el mundo. Aquí se proporciona una lista de estas organizaciones.

Giro radical en políticas ambientales

Vance, de 39 años, inició su “vida pública” en 2016 con el lanzamiento de su exitoso libro de memorias Hillbilly Elegy. En los últimos ocho años, ha experimentado una transformación política significativa: de un conservador que se autodenominaba “Nunca trumpista”, a convertirse en un firme seguidor y defensor del expresidente. Sin embargo, su cambio no se limitó a lo ideológico; también dio un giro radical en sus posiciones sobre políticas ambientales.

En un foro organizado por The Ohio State University en 2020 Vance reconoció que tenemos un problema climático en nuestra sociedad y que en gran medida es causado por las emisiones descontroladas de China. “La razón de este problema es que no estamos generando energía de manera mucho más limpia que hace 30 o 40 años. De hecho, la mayor mejoría en las emisiones proviene de la energía solar, que puede proporcionar una cantidad sustancial de nuestra energía, pero no puede ofrecer ni siquiera el 50% de nuestra energía, mucho menos el 100%. A medida que aumentamos nuestra dependencia del gas natural, que, aunque es una mejora respecto a formas de energía más sucias, no es exactamente lo que nos llevará a un futuro con energía limpia”.

Crítica a los demócratas

El senador Vance ha expresado opiniones contradictorias sobre el medio ambiente y las políticas actuales. “Absolutamente creo en la tradición de Teddy Roosevelt, deberíamos preocuparnos por el medio ambiente. Estoy seguro de que cada persona en esta sala estaría de acuerdo con eso”.

Al mismo tiempo Vance criticó la atención que se presta a las políticas ambientales propuestas por los demócratas, argumentando que deberían centrarse en problemas más inmediatos, como la contaminación del agua y el estado del sistema alimentario. “Pero hablemos de los contaminantes en nuestra agua, hablemos del hecho de que nuestro sistema alimentario es un desastre que nos está haciendo poco saludables y miserables, en lugar de hablar de un montón de políticas ridículas que los demócratas promueven constantemente y que lo hacen es enviar dinero a China, el país más sucio y con la economía más contaminante del mundo entero”. Vance acierta al señalar que China es el país con la economía más contaminante del mundo. El consumo de combustibles fósiles alcanzó nuevos máximos históricos en 2023, impulsado por el aumento del uso de carbón y petróleo en China, a pesar del auge global de la energía renovable.

El senador de 39 años cuestiona la eficacia de las soluciones propuestas para el cambio climático, sugiriendo que las políticas actuales son inadecuadas y tienen efectos negativos, como la pérdida de empleos y la construcción de infraestructuras que considera poco prácticas. “Si se preocupan tanto por el cambio climático (demócratas y ambientalistas) y piensan que el cambio climático es causado por las emisiones de carbono, entonces ¿por qué su solución es gritar al máximo volumen, enviar una gran cantidad de nuestros empleos a China y luego fabricar estos ridículos y feos molinos de viento en las granjas de Ohio que no producen suficiente electricidad para alimentar un teléfono móvil?”.

J.D. Vance no es el primero en malinterpretar el potencial de las fuentes de energía intermitentes como la eólica. Al igual que el expresidente Trump, quien ha afirmado que las turbinas eólicas no pueden alimentar ni siquiera una televisión, Vance ha cometido el error de pensar que la energía eólica se “apagará” en ausencia de viento. Sin embargo, las redes eléctricas están diseñadas con redundancias para evitar apagones y, además, se utilizan baterías para almacenar energía. De hecho, una turbina eólica en EE. UU. puede generar suficiente electricidad para cargar 316 teléfonos móviles dos veces al día, lo que demuestra que la afirmación de Vance es incorrecta y una turbina de 1.5 MW operando al 33% de su capacidad puede abastecer de energía a 415 hogares en los EE.UU., lo que demuestra que, a pesar de las críticas de Vance, las turbinas eólicas pueden tener un impacto significativo en la generación de energía renovable.

Por otra parte el viento representa menos del 2% de la electricidad generada en Ohio, y a pesar de que el estado es uno de los lugares de nacimiento de la energía eólica, solo tiene alrededor de 419 aerogeneradores en funcionamiento, ubicándose en el puesto 24 entre todos los estados.

¿LA IRA envía empleos a China?


Vance afirma que la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris envió empleos a China al emitir el voto de desempate en 2022 en el Senado para aprobar la Ley de Reducción de la Inflación (IRA), una ley que incluyó 370 mil millones de dólares en fondos para el clima y la energía con el fin de combatir el cambio climático. La IRA fue diseñada para fomentar empleos de manufactura verde en los Estados Unidos, y la evidencia muestra que está funcionando. De acuerdo con un reporte de Climate Power, la IRA ha creado más de 330,000 nuevos empleos en energía limpia y ha estimulado miles de millones de dólares hacia la transición a la energía limpia, incluidos 134,385 empleos creados en comunidades de bajos ingresos en 38 estados. Además, un análisis de Bank of America arrojó que los mayores impactos de IRA comenzarán en 2024 y 2025 propiciando inversiones importantes y creando de puestos de trabajo.

Vance es un opositor de la ley IRA. “Es una tontería, no hace nada por el medio ambiente y nos empobrecerá a todos”, escribió en las redes sociales durante su campaña para el Senado en 2022.


En el primer año después de la aprobación de la IRA, según un análisis de Goldman Sachs, se anunciaron 280 proyectos de energía limpia en 44 estados, representando una inversión de 282 mil millones de dólares que crearía 175,000 empleos.

Defensor del fracking

Vance ha celebrado la tecnología de la fracturación hidráulica, comúnmente llamada fracking, por su capacidad para ayudar a extraer vastas reservas de gas en Ohio. Fracking o fracturación hidráulica es una técnica de extracción de recursos naturales, como el gas y el petróleo, que implica la inyección a alta presión de una mezcla de agua, arena y productos químicos en formaciones rocosas subterráneas. El objetivo es fracturar las rocas para liberar los recursos atrapados en ellas. Esta técnica se utiliza principalmente en formaciones de esquisto y, aunque ha permitido acceder a vastas reservas de combustibles fósiles, también ha generado preocupaciones sobre posibles impactos ambientales negativos, como la contaminación del agua y la liberación de sustancias tóxicas.

El senador escribió un ensayo de opinión diciendo que los habitantes de Ohio “son afortunados de vivir sobre la cuenca de petróleo y gas de Utica Shale”, un reservorio que contiene aproximadamente 38 billones de pies cúbicos de gas natural.

La trayectoria de J.D. Vance en temas ambientales revela una notable transformación política. Al continuar analizando las posturas de los candidatos a la presidencia y vicepresidencia, el caso de Vance subraya la urgencia de una discusión fundamentada sobre cómo enfrentar el cambio climático de manera efectiva y sostenible. Es esencial contar con información verificada para abordar estas cuestiones de manera informada y precisa.


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Arte: Daniel Robles.

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