by Allan Wall, VDare, ©2022
(Jul. 13, 2022) — See also: MEMO FROM MIDDLE AMERICA: Abolishing Oklahoma—SCOTUS’ Misguided McGIRT Decision Foments Tax Evasion, Crime Wave In Indian Country
Two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in in McGirt v. Oklahoma that 43 percent of Oklahoma, most of the state’s eastern region, including Tulsa, is “Indian Country,” meaning reservation land. The preposterous ruling proscribed state and local law enforcement from prosecuting crimes in cases involving Indian victims or perpetrators, even though tribes and the federal government don’t have the resources to do so. Comes now another SCOTUS decision, Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta, in which one of VDARE’s signature issues, illegal immigration, intersects with and refines McGirt by permitting the prosecution of non-Indian criminals.
McGirt was preposterous because not one Indian in Oklahoma has lived on what we traditionally understand as a reservation since the Sooner State joined the union in 1907. But at least Castro-Huerta will help law enforcement a little, thanks to Victor Castro-Huerta himself.
My radar went up on this one because a dual Spanish surname suggested he wasn’t born here, which in turn suggested he might just be an illegal alien. Corporate media articles, as is typical, were silent about that. But the decision itself is not: “Castro-Huerta is not a U.S. citizen and is unlawfully in the United States,” wrote Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who prepared the majority decision.
The background:
Castro-Huerta lived in Tulsa with his American Cherokee wife, Christina Calhoun. Like Elizabeth Warren—aka Fauxcahontas—Calhoun isn’t a member of the two chartered tribes in Oklahoma, the United Keetoowah Band, which arrived in the territory before the Trail of Tears, and The Cherokee Nation, which arrived on the Trail of Tears.
Yet unlike Warren—aka Fauxcahontas—the wife is an Eastern Band Cherokee, a tribe that did not migrate west but instead stayed in North Carolina, where its members still reside and have their own reservation. (For the record, no tribe recognizes 1/1024th Warren as a member).
Before their arrest, the Castro-Huertas were raising a 5-year-old, legally blind daughter who also suffers with cerebral palsy. She, too, is an Eastern Band Cherokee.
Then again, “raising” isn’t exactly what they were doing. It was more like they were trying to kill her, given the way the SCOTUS decision describes her condition:
Dehydrated, emaciated, and covered in lice and excrement, she weighed only 19 pounds. Investigators later found her bed filled with bedbugs and cockroaches.
Both pleaded guilty to child neglect, with Castro-Huerta receiving a 35-year-sentence, and Calhoun landing life.
You know what comes next. Castro-Huerta and his lawyers cited McGirt to overturn the conviction.
On April 27, SCOTUS heard the case, the last in which Justice Stephen Breyer participated [In Justice Breyer’s Final Oral Argument at SCOTUS, Court Considers Whether Oklahoma May Prosecute Crimes Committed on Indian Lands, by Elura Nanos, Law & Crime, April 27, 2022]. A day after the decision was announced on June 29, Ketanji Brown Jackson replaced the retired Breyer [Making history, Ketanji Brown Jackson sworn in as Supreme Court justice, by Libby Cathey, ABC News, June 30, 2022]. We look forward to seeing what sorts of decisions she will support.
Castro-Huerta’s legal maneuver failed. In a 5-4 decision, SCOTUS ruled that “the Federal Government and the State have concurrent jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed by non-Indians against Indians in Indian country” [emphasis added]. Thus, the decision limits McGirt.
As for Calhoun, “although she is attempting to have her state prosecution vacated under McGirt because the crime was committed in Indian Country, federal prosecutors contend the case is not likely to be reopened. As a result, they agreed to withdraw the federal indictment against her but have reserved the right to refile should the legal landscape change” [Supreme Court takes up contentious Indian Country case on final day of session, by Acee Agoyo, Indianz.com, April 27, 2022].
Reaction in Oklahoma was mixed, as one would expect.
Read the rest here.
American citizen Allan Wall (email him) moved back to the U.S.A. in 2008 after many years residing in Mexico. Allan‘s wife is Mexican, and their two sons are bilingual. In 2005, Allan served a tour of duty in Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his Mexidata.info articles are archived here; his News With Views columns are archived here; his US Inc blog items are here, and his website is here.