Red Lake leaders discuss legal options amid threats to federal funds

RED LAKE — One day after announcing it would freeze federal grants and loans, the federal Office of Management and Budget appears to have rescinded the move on Wednesday, Jan. 29.

But according to NPR, White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt says the action only applied to memo calling for the temporary pause and not the efforts themselves to “end the egregious waste of federal funding."

Among those programs that appear to be targeted are dozens of tribal funding streams.

The Red Lake Tribal Council met in a special session Wednesday to form a plan of action against the series of executive orders coming from the President Donald J. Trump administration, breaking for lunch moments before the apparent rescission of the freeze.

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One legal priority for Red Lake is distinguishing tribal programs and their related federal funding from diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programming. Grants or loans associated with DEI efforts are among those explicitly named as targets of the federal spending audits.

Michelle Paquin, the band’s legal adviser, pointed out that Red Lake is not an ethnic group, but a political entity.

“Even though the president may have done this to apply to all federal grants," Paquin explained, "[he] has a different lens to look at, when it comes to tribes and protecting our sovereignty, and their trust responsibility."

Chairman Darrell Seki Sr. condemned the actions of Trump at the beginning of the meeting and emphasized that his own priorities are with the people of Red Lake.

Seki evoked Project 2025, a policy blueprint published by the conservative Heritage Foundation before Trump’s reelection.

“When he campaigned, he denied that he was involved in Project 2025, but everything he's doing now is related to Project 2025," Seki said. "Read Project 2025. Read it. He's doing what it states there ... on [Project] 2025. So he lied. He continues to lie.”

Red Lake Secretary Sam Strong also advised that his team is distributing tribal documentation to members living in Minneapolis.

Red Lake is seeking information from members who have had interactions with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and is waiving its typical fee for ID renewals or issuances.

Navajo Nation leaders in the southwest U.S. are raising alarm over its members reportedly being targeted in ICE operations, and tribal leaders across the country are urging ICE to accept tribal IDs as proof of citizenship.

WRLN's Jon Roberts contributed to this report.