Chair Leger Fernández Holds Historic Hearing on the Immoral and Shameful Indian Boarding School Policies

Press Release

Today, Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández held a hearing to examine the "Indian Boarding School Era", the time period from 1819 to 1969. During those years, the U.S. government forcibly removed Indigenous children from their communities and placed them into government-run boarding schools to assimilate them into Euro-American society.

At these schools, American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian students were forbidden to practice their culture, use their given names, or speak their traditional languages. If they disobeyed, they were harshly punished. Many students experienced physical, sexual, or psychological abuse, and some never returned home to their families. To this day, the United States government has never formally acknowledged or apologized for these actions. According to a recently released report from the Department of Interior, New Mexico had one of the greatest concentrations of Federal Indian boarding schools in the country with over 40 schools.

The legislative hearing consideredH.R. 5444, the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act, introduced by Rep. Sharice L. Davids (D-Kan.), which will establish a formal commission to investigate and document the policies of the Indian Boarding School Era. The commission will develop recommendations on how the U.S. government can best acknowledge and heal the intergenerational trauma associated with the era. Congresswoman Leger Fernández is an original cosponsor of H.R. 5444.

"This bill is imperative to recognize the atrocities of the federal government's Indian Boarding school policies. It is critical to provide a voice to survivors, their families and Tribal Nations. It is necessary to better understand our dark history so that we can grow and heal from it." said Leger Fernández.

Today the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Deb Haaland announced the release of the first volume of aninvestigative report detailing an initial inventory of federal Indian boarding schools and student conditions within the boarding school system. The report is part of the Department'sFederal Indian Boarding School Initiative that was launched in June 2021 and its investigations are still ongoing. The report has found that between 1819 to 1969, the Indian boarding school system included 408 schools across 37 states or then-Territories, with at least 500 child deaths occurring at these institutions.

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