INDIAN GAMING ASSOCIATION 05-ANA-BOD-04-07-24 Calling on Congress and President Biden to Enact Legislation Recognizing our Native Sovereign Nation Recovery of Indian Lands in our own Name in Restricted Fee Status, Subject to Restriction on Alienation, with Affirmation of Tribal Civil and Criminal Jurisdiction, Preemption of State and Local Taxation and Regulation, And the Coverage of Federal Laws and Treaties Protecting Native Nations and Indian Country WHEREAS , the Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) is an intertribal association of 184 federally recognized Native Sovereign Nations established to support Indian gaming and defend Indian sovereignty; and WHEREAS , Native Sovereign Nations are sovereigns that pre-date the United States, with prior and treaty protected rights to self-government and to our Indian lands, and WHEREAS, the Constitution of the United States, through the Treaty, Commerce, and Apportionment Clauses and the 14 th Amendment, recognizes the sovereign status of Native Sovereign Nations as Native nations established prior to the United States; and WHEREAS , the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (the “IGRA”) acknowledged and confirmed the inherent sovereign powers of Native Sovereign Nations Governments; and WHEREAS , the Creator blessed the first woman and first man with the breath of life, and with life, liberty and a sacred duty to Mother Earth; and WHEREAS , exercising our liberty in community, We, the Native American Peoples vested our Native Sovereign Nations with sovereignty and self-determination at the beginning of time; and WHEREAS , with the Creator’s blessing, our Native Sovereign Nations held ownership to our homelands as Native Nation territory, preserving our permanent homelands for the life and future of our Native Peoples, always with the view of the well-being of our Seventh Generation; and WHEREAS , Native Sovereign Nations and tribes are prior independent sovereign nations, with inherent sovereign authority over our members and our territory that flows from the will of our Native Peoples; and WHEREAS , the Constitution of the United States acknowledged Native Sovereign Nations as prior, independent sovereigns with nation-to-nation treaty and trust relations with America; and WHEREAS , America recognized that our Native Sovereign Nations owned our Native lands, and sought title from us for American lands, as we reserved our permanent homelands by treaty, and settlers were forbidden from occupying Native lands while the United States protected our Native lands with Indian “trust title;” WHEREAS , today, as our Native Sovereign Nations seek to restore our sacred lands, many Native American Nations seek Nation title in our own names, with affirmation of our civil and criminal
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