COUNTY RESOLUTION REOPENS DISPUTE OVER MILLE LACS RESERVATION BOUNDARIES

Reservation sign installed by Minnesota Department of Transportation along US State Highway 169. Inaajimowin file photo.

Band raises concerns over good-faith relations and the resolution's legal inaccuracies

By Vivian LaMoore, Inaajimowin Editor

The Mille Lacs County Board of Commissioners voted 3-1 on Feb. 3 to approve a resolution challenging the long-established boundaries of the Mille Lacs Reservation and urging the federal government to withdraw a 2015 legal opinion affirming that the reservation was never disestablished.

Resolution 02-03-26-03 calls on the Trump Administration to vacate Solicitor's Opinion M-37032, issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior. The M-Opinion affirmed that Congress never disestablished the Mille Lacs Reservation and that the Reservation boundaries of the 1855 treaty remained intact. The County resolution also signals the County's intent to reassess prior court filings and pursue a substantially smaller reservation footprint of approximately 4,000 acres.

The County's action follows months of renewed government-to-government engagement between Mille Lacs County officials and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, after the conclusion of a decades-long disputes over the jurisdictional authority of the Mille Lacs Tribal Police Department and litigation that cost taxpayers more than $10 million. While recent discussions did not resolve all outstanding issues, the Band believed both governments were beginning to move toward a more constructive working relationship.

"As a result of that long and costly history, we believed both governments were beginning to make headway toward a more constructive, government-to-government relationship," said Mille Lacs Band Chief Executive Virgil Wind. "We did not claim the work was finished, but reopening long-settled federal law through misleading arguments is inconsistent with good-faith relations and threatens the progress we were starting to see."

The County's resolution asks the Trump Administration to withdraw a Solicitor's Opinion (M-37032), issued in 2015. The Opinion affirms that the Mille Lacs Reservation was never disestablished and provides longstanding clarity relied upon by federal agencies and law enforcement. The County's resolution contains numerous inaccuracies, omits critical historical and legal context, and mischaracterizes treaties, statutes, and court decisions. As the first Trump Administration wrote in 2017 in reliance on the 2015 Opinion, "the County's assertion that the Band's reservation has been diminished or disestablished has no basis in law and conflicts with the federal government's longstanding position."

Notably, the County's resolution does not identify any way in which the County has been harmed by the Solicitors Opinion. Rather than creating confusion, as alleged in the County resolution, the Opinion supports jurisdictional certainty and public safety for everyone in the region.

The Mille Lacs Band reaffirmed its commitment to honest, respectful, and transparent government-to-government relations, while emphasizing that meaningful progress requires consistency, accuracy, and good faith. Band leaders said reopening old disputes and destabilizing long-established federal law undermines the trust necessary for any productive intergovernmental relationship.

"Our responsibility is to protect our people, uphold the law, and act in good faith," Wind said. "Stable, respectful government-to-government relationships depend on accuracy, consistency, and adherence to long-established federal law."