‘The Cartels Know This’: Biden’s Border Crisis Pushes Montana’s Indian Country to the Brink
20th June 2024
The Fort Belknap Indian Reservation sits just 40 miles from the Canadian border, but threats to its sovereignty—and to tribal members’ lives—are coming all the way from Mexico.
A rising cartel presence—bringing increased drugs and violence to a community that already had plenty of both—has left some tribal members believing that the White House has all but left them behind.
“The Biden administration’s Bureau of Indian Affairs treats us worse than white people do,” said Jeffrey Stiffarm, who serves as president of the Fort Belknap Indian community. “We’re not getting no help from the FBI, Border Patrol, none of them have stepped up with more money and resources, and the cartels know this.”