22 Nooksack 306 Households Facing Illegal Eviction From HUD Homes
63 Nooksack tribal members comprising 22 HUD households are presently facing eviction by Nooksack politicians despite the BIA and HUD both requesting a pause to those proceedings.
Interior Department Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Bryan Newland has commenced a BIA investigation of the matter, citing the families' deprivation of the right to counsel, but the federal government's efforts have not deterred Nooksack politicians from proceeding with police-aided evictions despite the pandemic, holidays, and even local flooding in Whatcom County.
(Photos: Nooksack officer Jeremy Hoyle, previously fired by the Lummi Nation for police misconduct, serves Nooksack family members with eviction papers at their doorsteps in November; 83 year-old Francisco "Cisco" Rabang and his 78 year-old wife Billie enter the Nooksack Housing Authority for an eviction "conference" yesterday)
Letter from Attorney Nooksack police re illegal evictions
November 1, 2021
VIA FAX & EMAIL
Jeremy Hoyle Nooksack Tribal Police
4979 Mount Baker Hwy, Suite E-1 P.O Box 157 Deming, WA 98244
jhoyle@nooksack-nsn.com
Re: Nooksack Off-Reservation Homes
Dear Mr. Hoyle: It has come to our attention that you visited Cat Barril at her home in the Whispering Cedars apartments on the off-reservation Suchanon Allotment on Saturday, October 30, 2021, at 1:35 PM; and Cisco and Billie Rabang at their home in the Rutsatz housing project on the off-reservation Sewalmus Allotment, on Sunday, October 31, 2021, at 5:20 PM during Halloween festivities. In both instances, you personally served them, while in uniform and dawning your badge and gun, with eviction papers.
We represent Ms. Barril and the Rabangs, as well as several other families living in federally-funded HUD homes on the off-reservation Suchanon and Sewalmus Allotments. There was no need for you to visit Ms. Barril or the Rabangs at their respective homes during a holiday weekend to serve them with eviction notices. The Nooksack Indian Housing Authority could have instead served those papers upon them via certified mail. My office is also available to receive those papers on our clients’ behalf, by email, fax, or certified mail. Your behavior over the weekend is unbecoming of tribal law enforcement officers, but apparently consistent with your police record. We understand that before recently getting hired at Nooksack, you were terminated by the Lummi Nation for police misconduct.
Your behavior is inconsistent with an October 5, 2021, directive from U.S. Department of the Interior Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs Bryan Newland to Nooksack Tribal Chairman Ross Cline, Jr. You also lack police authority at Rutzsatz and Whispering Cedars. State v. Cooper, 928 P.2d 406, 408 (Wash. 1996) (citing RCW § 37.12.010); AGO 63-64 No. 68 (Nov. 8, 1963). The off-reservation allotments on which those housing projects sit fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of Washington State. Id.
Cease and desist from entering upon any of our clients’ off-reservation homes or having any police involvement with our clients there. If you do so again, you will risk being sued in Whatcom County Superior Court or the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington under applicable federal law. See Lewis v. Clarke, 137 S. Ct. 1285, 1292 (2017); 24 U.S.C. 450f(c); 25 C.F.R. §§ 900.190 et seq.
Very truly yours,
Gabriel S. Galanda Attorney at Law Admitted to practice law in Washington
Cc: Charles Hurt, Esq,. Nooksack Tribe (via Fax) Anne Marie Bledsoe Downes, Esq., Solicitor Stephanie Sfiridis, Esq., Senior Counselor Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior Bryan Mercier, Director, Northwest Regional Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs Christina Parker, Esq., Attorney-Advisor U.S. Department of the Interior Tate London, Esq. Tribal Liaison, Western District of Washington U.S. Department of Justice Tom Carney, Seattle Office of Native American Programs U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Bill Elfo, Sheriff, Whatcom County George Roche, Esq., Whatcom County