The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota refused to end coronavirus checkpoints despite the governor’s warning that they are illegal.
Republican Gov. Kristi Noem told the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Friday that they had to remove checkpoints intended to keep people who have traveled to coronavirus hot spots from visiting reservations.
“We are strongest when we work together; this includes our battle against Covid-19,” Noem said. “I request that the tribes immediately cease interfering with or regulating traffic on US and State Highways and remove all travel checkpoints.”
The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe refused to end the checkpoints, which require people to fill out health questionnaires, according to CNN.
“We want to ensure that people coming from ‘hot spots’ or highly infected areas, we ask them to go around our land,” Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Chairman Harold Frazier told CNN pm Sunday.
“With the lack of resources we have medically, this is our best tool we have right now to try to prevent [the spread of Covid-19],” Frazier said.
People from outside the state or from areas deemed hot spots are only permitted on the reservation if they obtain a travel permit from the tribe’s website and are there for an essential activity.
Julian Bear Runner, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, also rejected Noem’s demand.
“We have an inherent and sovereign right to protect the health of our people, and no one, man or woman, can dispute that right,” he said in a Facebook video posted over the weekend.
Noem’s office reiterated her Friday letters by saying Sunday, “The checkpoints on state and US highways are not legal, and if they don’t come down, the state will take the matter to Federal court, as Governor Noem noted in her Friday letter.”
Noem has received blowback for not ordering people in the state to stay home amid the coronavirus, but defended the move, claiming the state did not see the surge in hospital visits that some projections suggested.
