WASHINGTON — A coalition of tribal organizations issued a sharp response to the ongoing layoffs of thousands of federal employees across Indian Country, expressing “grave concerns” about the “catastrophic” impact to Indian health services, education, law enforcement, fire suppression and other programs delivering services to tribal nations, citizens and communities.
The letter, delivered Friday as the layoff notices were arriving in employee emails, urges the Office of Personnel Management alongside agency heads and the Department of Government Efficiency to provide exemptions for workers providing tribal services that are obligated under treaty and trust obligations.
The cutbacks could have “unintended life or death consequences” for tribal citizens who rely on the services, according to the letter, a copy of which was obtained by ICT.
“Thus far, we have only seen limited exemptions for Federal employees serving Indian Country which do not go far enough to protect essential workers, services, and funds Tribal Nations rely on,” according to the letter.
“When paired with the pauses on Federal funding that affected services Tribal Nations provide to their communities, the loss of Federal employees providing direct services to Tribal communities would be catastrophic,” the letter stated.
The letter was addressed to OPM Acting Director Charles Ezell and signed by 16 tribal organizations and the Navajo Nation.
The layoff notices were going out Friday to probationary federal workers who had been hired within the last year or two and were not yet covered under the civil service regulations that protect other federal workers.
The cuts are expected to cause deep cuts to the Indian Health Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Education, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Justice and any tribal offices within federal agencies.
“Tribes who receive direct service will be hit the hardest,” one official told ICT. Programs that fall under so-called 638 contracts or compacts will not be affected in this wave of layoffs, according to the official.
Layoffs were initially expected to include 2,200 IHS workers, of whom 1,400 provided direct patient care, including more than 90 physicians, 350 nurses, at least 25 nurse practitioners, nearly 20 dentists, 43 dental assistants, more than 85 pharmacists, 45 lab technicians, 25 hospital social workers, 45 lab technicians, nearly 130 medical assistants, as well as paramedics, dieticians, behavioral health workers, hospital food service workers, nursing assistants and more than 15 service area chief executives or their deputies.
But the White House issued an exemption Friday afternoon for certain IHS workers that reduced the total layoffs to more than 950, officials told ICT. Details were not immediately available on whether or how many doctors, nurses and other direct-care workers would be affected.
IHS had a call Friday afternoon where federal workers were crying on the call. Laid off employees will receive a notice from OPM late Friday afternoon. “Every tribe will want out of direct service arena,” an official told ICT.
Nonetheless, the impact would be severe, officials said.
“Such a drastic reduction in force would lead to the immediate cancellation of medical services and procedures,” the coalition letter states. “There are 214 Tribal Nations that receive some of all of their care directly from IHS, and losing probationary providers and staff would mean a loss of health and ultimately mortality. Indian Country cannot afford emergency rooms and clinics being forced to shut down or significantly downsize, eliminating critical access to care.”
Federal employees, civil service and United States Public Health Services Commissioned Officers make up the approximately 15,000 employees at IHS, according to the agency’s website.
The letter notes that IHS has some standing exemptions “but they are too limited to ensure the agency can effectively meet direct care services,” given its 30 percent existing vacancy rate. At any time, IHS has 14 to 18 percent of probationary staff.
In past years IHS has been exempt from staff reductions, freezes, and other personnel action, especially during government shutdowns.
“The Department of Veterans Affairs has provided broad exemptions, and the same should be provided for IHS,” states the letter.
The layoffs are also expected to hit about 2,600 workers at the Department of the Interior, 118 BIA workers, two positions in the Office of Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs and about half the Office of Tribal Justice at the Department of Justice.
The BIE is expected to lose one-third of its administrative workforce, with about 40 employees expected to lose their jobs, sources told ICT Friday.
The deputy bureau director for BIE school operations oversees more than 120 employees who are responsible for the BIE budget, grants management, finance, safety management, facilities and environmental-related issues for BIE-funded schools and two tribal colleges, Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in New Mexico, according to the BIE website. Of the entire BIE-operated school system, there are about 5,000 administrators, teachers and personnel.
Haskell is expected to lose 24 percent of its staff and could face loss of accreditation, a source told ICT. The workers were told they must be gone by 2 p.m. Eastern on Friday.
Alex Red Corn, who is the associate vice chancellor for Sovereign Partnerships and Indigenous Initiatives at the University of Kansas, works directly with Haskell on shared education programs between the two institutions. The universities signed a renewed agreement in November 2024.
“For those that don’t know, Haskell Indian Nations University has increased enrollments over the last few years and has reinstated some stability with corresponding growth in faculty/staff,” the Osage citizen wrote on Facebook. “Now, many of these new staff are facing layoffs upwards of 20-30 percent of their entire operational staff. Meanwhile, Haskell is still responsible for the education of the same number of students.”
In addition, employees at the Office of Justice Services housed in the Department of the Interior, social workers, firefighters and police could be impacted, officials said. The Office of Justice Services provides safety to Native communities and upholds tribal sovereignty.
The cutbacks would “severely impact” critical services, the letter states.
“For example, wildfires across the western United States have led Tribal Nations to request additional staffing for Wildland Fire Management,” according to the letter. “These essential employees, who protect rural communities from fire devastation, would be lost under the current workforce reduction plans. Public safety, law enforcement, social services and emergency response programs would also be compromised.”
Detention and correction programs for 19 tribes in 11 states will also be affected, sources said.
The letter was approved during an emergency meeting by the coalition Friday morning that came after news broke late Thursday about the directive for widespread layoffs from the Trump administration.
“Tribes who receive direct service will be hit the hardest,” one official told ICT. Programs that fall under 638 contracts or compacts will not be affected in this wave of layoffs, according to the official.
The letter said federal jobs and funding are obligations the United States has acknowledged through its trust and treaty obligations, the letter said.
“Tribal Nations’ exercise of our sovereignty and the United States’ delivery on its trust and treaty obligations must not became collateral damage in the Administration’s implementation of its priorities,” the letter concludes.
“We look forward to this Administration ensuring that Tribal communities do not bear the brunt of broader federal policy changes. We stand ready to meet with you and others within the Trump Administration to discuss this urgent matter further.”
A.C. Locklear II, the National Indian Health Board’s interim chief executive officer, told attendees at the National Congress of American Indians Executive Council Winter Session on Wednesday, Feb. 12, that disruption to services can have a devastating impact on American Indians and Alaska Natives, especially when hiring is already a problem in rural and urban tribal communities.
“All those individuals within the Indian health … system are critical, especially right now, because everyone plays a critical part,” he said. “It can have catastrophic results that we saw in the shutdown in 2019.”
Tasha R. Mousseau, vice president of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes in Anadarko, Oklahoma, arrived back home from being in Washington, D.C., earlier this week. She read the news while traveling most of Friday.
She said the federal layoffs give an added layer to the federal hiring and potential funding freezes she worried about when she got to the nation’s capital.
“The ripple effects that are going to happen from these layoffs go far beyond healthcare,” Mousseau told ICT, who is Witchita, Kiowa and Caddo. It’s going to affect not only tribal citizens but rural citizens. “It isn’t just an Indian problem … this is going to impact a lot of different people.”
The federally recognized tribe calls Anadarko its home, a rural town for more than 5,500 residents, according to the U.S. Census. The tribe’s headquarters is located there along with a BIA area office, Riverside Indian School (a BIE-operated school), an IHS clinic, and eight tribes are nearby. So losing federal workers could impact their economy since these government offices and gaming provide many jobs. “We make this town go round, right?” she said.
She knows of some folks who have already been impacted by the layoffs Friday and said they choose to work there, they choose to serve Native people.
“They could work anywhere, but they choose to work with the federal government on behalf of tribal nations and tribal citizens. And so that’s where their heart is,” she said. “So there I think there’s a well warranted sense of devastation, right? That you’re not going to be able to help your people on a daily basis in the way that you would like to to give back. And there’s frustration as well.”
She also described their feelings as “this overall sense of disbelief” as if they are in “Alice in Wonderland” where what is up is down. “It doesn’t make sense and it’s hard to make sense of it.”
Despite all of the layoffs, executive orders and changing news every hour, she has been seeing them and others also “confident and strong.”
“That resilience and that toughness and that perseverance is in our DNA. And so it is rising to the top both at the tribal leadership level, but also the individual citizen,” Mousseau said.
Response came quickly from U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska. She spoke on the Senate floor Friday afternoon, highlighting her letter to the Office of Management and Budget and “to make clear to those that are part of the incoming administration … that when we are speaking about Indian Tribes and Tribal Programs and the federal funding that they receive, they do not fall into the category, if you will, of diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
She said there has been “a fair amount of confusion… and uncertainty,” causing “undue stress and anxiety” about the executive orders.
“When we are speaking about Indian tribes and tribal programs and the federal funding they receive, they do not fall into the category, if you will, of diversity, equity and inclusion,” she said.
Last week, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs elected Murkowski as chair of the committee, a position she’s held before.
U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, a Democrat from New Mexico, sent a letter to President Donald Trump late Friday signed by nine other senators asking the administration to halt the layoffs of IHS staff.
“Tribal Nations have a legal and political relationship with the United States, and the federal government has a fundamental obligation to fulfill its treaty and trust responsibilities to Tribal Nations – an obligation that includes providing services such as health care to Native communities,” the letter states.
“Abruptly terminating any IHS employees undermines this responsibility, and we urge you to halt the mass firing of any essential health care workers at IHS to preserve the Federal obligations to Tribes. “
The letter said cutting healthcare services will lead to worse outcomes for patients and ultimate cost the federal government more money.
“The federal government is already failing to meet its trust and treaty obligations to Tribal Nations, and further reductions in IHS’ workforce will severely impact the health and wellbeing of [American Indians/Alaska Natives] across the country,” it states. “Therefore, we strongly urge you to stop these firings and retain IHS probationary staff.”
The letter was signed by eight other Democratic senators: Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly of Arizona, Alex Padilla of California, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. U.S. Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, also signed the letter.
Tribal leaders, organizations, and Native people can get updates and resources on The Coalition Group website.
In addition to the Navajo Nation, 16 organizations signed the letter: Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, American Indian Higher Education Consortium, California Tribal Chairpersons Association, Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council, Great Plains Tribal Chairmans Association, Midwest Alliance of Sovereign Tribes, National American Indian Court Judges Association, National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, National Congress of American Indians, National Council of Urban Indian Health, National Indian Child Welfare Association, National Indian Education Association, National Indian Health Board, National Indigenous, Women’s Resource Center, Self-Governance Communication & Education Tribal Consortium, and United South and Eastern Tribes Sovereignty Protection Fund.
ICT’s Kevin Abourezk contributed to this report.
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