Attorney General Eric Holder and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Wednesday said the government has taken steps to prevent fraud in recent major settlements with black farmers and American Indians.

Congress last month passed legislation to pay $1.15 billion to settle a case known as Pigford II, in which African-American farmers alleged discrimination in Agriculture Department loan programs; and $3.4 billion to resolve Cobell v. Salazar, in which American Indians alleged they had been shortchanged by the Interior Department on royalties. President Barack Obama signed the bill Wednesday.

Conservatives, who have been critical of the legislation, say it has the potential for fraud, TPMMuckraker reported.

Holder and Vilsack answered questions from reporters Wednesday after attending a joint Department of Justice-Agriculture Department workshop on antitrust issues in the agriculture industry in Washington.

Vilsack said: “I think we have in place appropriate steps and we must recognize that what we’re doing here is compensating for acts of discrimination that took place some time ago.” He added, “I think there are significant safeguards that have been placed in the settlement process in addition to those that would occur just generally, which is a review by an independent arbitrator and adjudicator.”

According to Vilsack, to receive payout, people will need approval from the USDA inspector general and the comptroller general.

Holder added: “The fraud concern is legitimate, and one that I think the secretary has indicated has been addressed in the past and we’ll continue to use those mechanisms to implement this new settlement.”

This story has been updated.

Top officials from the Justice Department and Agriculture Department on Tuesday said the government reached a deal to settle a discrimination lawsuit with American Indian farmers, even as similar settlements with minorities languish in Congress or federal court.

The announcement of the $680 million settlement with plaintiffs in the Keepseagle lawsuit comes as the Pigford settlement with black farmers and the Cobell agreement involving American Indian trust assets wait for approval in Congress. Unlike the Pigford and Cobell settlements,  the Keepseagle deal does not require the approval of Congress, DOJ officials said. Only the U.S. District Court in D.C. has to sign off on the Keepseagle settlement.

Assistant Attorney General Tony West of the Civil Division said the Keepseagle deal — like most discrimination settlements — are designed to draw money from the federal government’s “judgment fund,” and don’t need a congressional appropriation.

“There are some differences in the way the case has evolved and where the case stands now that really kind of makes it more along the lines of the typical kind of case you see here at the Department of Justice, which is satisfied whenever there are settlements through the judgment fund,” West said on a telephone call with reporters.

During the call, West and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack also called on Congress to quickly approve the other settlements.

The DOJ also is working to settle discrimination lawsuits brought by women and Hispanic farmers against the USDA. The government offered $1.3 billion in May to reach a settlement with dozens of Hispanic and female farmers, who allege the Agriculture Department discriminated against them in the allocation of government loans and other aid. The lead lawyer in the Hispanic farmers’ case, Garcia v. Vilsack, said the DOJ proposal is “woefully inadequate.”

President Barack Obama said Tuesday in a statement that his administration is working to reach a resolution on the lawsuits by the Hispanic and female farmers.

ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER AND AGRICULTURE SECRETARY VILSACK ANNOUNCE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT

WITH NATIVE AMERICAN FARMERS CLAIMING DISCRIMINATION BY USDA

Settlement Addresses Discrimination Claims Made Over Farm Loan Programs

WASHINGTON –Attorney General Eric Holder and Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the settlement of a class action lawsuit filed against USDA by Native American farmers alleging discrimination by USDA.  The settlement ends litigation concerning discrimination complaints from Native Americans generally covering the period 1981-1999.

“The settlement announced today will allow USDA and the Native American farmers involved in the lawsuit to move forward and focus on the future,” said Attorney General Holder.  “Under the process established in this agreement, Native American farmers who believe they suffered discrimination will have their claims heard.  The Department of Justice is proud to partner with USDA in the agency’s effort to ensure fair and equitable treatment of its clients.”

“Today’s settlement can never undo wrongs that Native Americans may have experienced in past decades, but combined with the actions we at USDA are taking to address such wrongs, the settlement will provide some measure of relief to those alleging discrimination,” Secretary Vilsack said.  “The Obama Administration is committed to closing the chapter on an unfortunate civil rights history at USDA and working to ensure our customers and employees are treated justly and equally.”

Under the settlement agreement, $680 million will be made available to eligible class members to compensate them for their discrimination claims.  Two payment “tracks” are available.  Under the first track, persons who meet the class definition and provide substantial evidence of discrimination to an impartial adjudicator will receive a uniform settlement of up to $50,000.  The second track is for those persons who meet the class definition and believe they have stronger evidence of economic losses caused by discrimination.  This track requires a higher evidentiary standard and damage awards are capped at a maximum of up to $250,000 per individual.  Actual monetary awards are subject to reduction based on the amount of available funding and the number of meritorious claims.

The judgment fund maintained by the Departments of Justice and Treasury will fund any monetary awards provided under the settlement.  USDA will provide up to $20 million to administer the settlement.
In addition to the monetary award, the agreement provides up to $80 million in debt forgiveness to successful claimants with outstanding USDA Farm Loan program debt.  Also, a moratorium on foreclosures of most claimants’ farms and a moratorium on accelerations and administrative offsets of class members’ farm loan accounts will be put into place until after claimants have gone through the claims process or the Secretary of Agriculture has been notified that a claim has been denied.
The settlement also provides a broad range of programmatic relief for Native American farmers, including creation of a new Federal Advisory Council for Native American farmers and ranchers that will include Native American representation from around the country as well as senior USDA officials.  Meanwhile, a new ombudsman position will be created to address farm program issues relating to Native American farmers and ranchers as well as all other socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.  The department will also offer Native American farmers enhanced technical assistance services through the establishment of a network that provides intensive instruction to recipients concerning financial, business and market planning skills and supports the deployment of tribal agriculture advocates and third party outreach and education providers.

This lawsuit, Marilyn Keepseagle et al., v. Vilsack (Civil Action No. 99-3119 (D.D.C.)), was filed on Nov. 24, 1999.  The settlement will not become final until it is formally approved by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

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The Justice Department is doling out millions of dollars to American Indian communities as part of a new initiative designed to streamline the distribution of law enforcement grants to tribes, a senior DOJ official announced Wednesday at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli; Robert Holden, National Congress of American Indians; and Kimberly Teehee, White House Senior Policy Advisor for Native American Affairs. (DOJ)

Tribes will receive $127 million to help improve their justice systems, stop youth substance abuse and assist crime victims as part of the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation, which simplifies the application process for 10 DOJ grant programs, Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli said.

“Today, we take another major step toward true nation-to-nation collaboration,” Perrelli said.

The Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation draws on American Indian grant programs from the Office of Justice Programs, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and the Office on Violence Against Women. Tribes interested in obtaining funds from the DOJ previously had to submit forms to the correlating grant offices, but now they can turn in one application for all their grant requests.

Perrelli said the DOJ received almost 200 more funding requests after implementing the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation in February.

The DOJ under Attorney General Eric Holder has made American Indian issues a top priority. The department has hired more prosecutors to handle crimes on reservations and initiated several new plans and policies to help lower the high crime levels in Indian Country.

“[The Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation] is part of the Department of Justice’s broader strategy of increased engagement with tribal communities across a broad range of areas,” Perrelli said. “CTAS encourages tribal nations to take a comprehensive look at the public safety challenges they’re facing and to work with the department to find ways to address them.”

The South Dakota U.S. Attorney’s Office will revitalize its efforts to address Indian Country public safety through a new outreach plan intended to reduce the staggering crime levels in local tribal communities, the state’s top federal prosecutor announced earlier this month.

Brendan Johnson (Photo by Andrew Ramonas/Main Justice)

Brendan Johnson, who has led the Sioux Falls-based U.S. Attorney’s office since October, said he will launch a two-year pilot program this fall that will put a federal prosecutor on a South Dakota reservation at least three days a week. His office also will bring on three prosecutors to handle Indian Country prosecutions exclusively and increase communication and coordination with tribal communities as part of the new strategy, he said.

About 9 percent of South Dakota’s population is made up of American Indians, who mostly live in the state’s nine reservations. But Indian Country crime accounts for about 55 percent of the criminal caseload in the U.S. Attorney’s office.

“The Community Prosecution Strategy will not solve all of our law enforcement challenges in tribal communities, but it is my hope that it signals a new era of government-to-government relationships and a concerted effort to address public safety cooperatively,” Johnson wrote in an Aug. 5 letter announcing the initiative.

Johnson, who is the chairman of the Native American issues subcommittee of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee, made fighting Indian Country crime a top priority when he came into office almost a year ago.

The U.S. Attorney and prosecutors from his office held a conference with tribal leaders and state officials in February to solicit ideas on how to better combat crime. Johnson said the dialogue between tribal and government leaders laid the groundwork for his strategy.

“The experience confirmed the universal view that tribal communities must become safe places to live and strengthened the relationships among those committed to that ideal,” Johnson wrote in the 2009 annual report for the U.S. Attorney’s office.

The cornerstone of the new strategy is the pilot program that will make a federal prosecutor a regular presence on the Pine Ridge Reservation, which accounted for more than a third of Indian Country cases brought by the U.S. Attorney’s office in 2009. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregg Peterman, who will lead the program, is responsible for improving the tribe’s legal system and strengthening the relationship between the American Indian community and federal law enforcement.

Gregg Peterman (DOJ)

Peterman has more than 12 years experience working on criminal matters in the Pine Ridge Reservation. He also worked in Russia with the Justice Department’s Overseas Professional Development Assistance and Training program, which posts federal prosecutors abroad to help create effective judicial systems in budding democracies.

“I remember thinking 10 years ago we should do a detail in Indian Country,” Peterman told the Rapid City Journal, which first reported the strategy. “If we can do that overseas, I thought, why are we not helping communities in this country who need assistance improving the function of their tribal justice system?”

In addition to posting Peterman on the Pine Ridge Reservation and hiring three more prosecutors to handle Indian country cases exclusively, the U.S. Attorney’s office will now allow some tribal prosecutors to work on federal cases as Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys. The U.S. Attorney’s office will also hold regular meetings with tribal members and mandate cultural training for prosecutors to help them become more attuned to the concerns of South Dakota American Indians.

Theresa Two Bulls (DOJ)

Theresa Two Bulls, president of the Ogala Sioux Tribe, which is on the Pine Ridge Reservation, told Main Justice that she supports the new efforts of the U.S. Attorney’s office to combat Indian country crime. She said ensuring the safety of American Indians on her reservation is vital.

“I feel that projects like this will help them see what goes on in the reservation,” said Two Bulls, a former tribal prosecutor.

Johnson is the second U.S. Attorney in the administration of President Barack Obama to implement a community initiative in his district.

Western District of Virginia U.S. Attorney Timothy Heaphy launched a community outreach program in July. The U.S. Attorney hired a former Roanoke councilwoman to meet with local organizations and immigrant communities to engage them in dialogue about effective law enforcement and let the groups know how the Justice Department can help them.

The community outreach initiatives draw on Attorney General Eric Holder’s work as D.C. U.S. Attorney from 1993 to 1997. He started a community prosecution project in the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office, which assigns prosecutors to different neighborhoods to meet with the residents and handle their cases.

“There’s a network of us that all believe in this kind of holistic approach to community problem solving, and I think you are going to see other offices get involved in this kind of thing as well,” Heaphy told Main Justice in July.

A former Deputy Director of the Justice Department Office of Tribal Justice this week called on the Senate to take action on President Barack Obama’s pick to lead the DOJ Tax Division.

Lawrence R. Baca, who worked at the DOJ from 1976 to 2008, wrote in an Indian Country Today column that he can no longer remain silent about Tax Division nominee Mary L. Smith, a Cherokee Nation member, who has been stalled for several months. He said Smith should receive “immediate confirmation,” noting that she would be the highest-ranking American Indian to ever work at the DOJ if she is confirmed.

Mary L. Smith (Chicago Bar)

Smith was first tapped for the post in April 2009, but has languished in the Senate over Republican concerns about her lack of tax law experience. The Senate Judiciary Committee first approved her in June 2009 without any Republican support and her nomination was returned to the White House in December. Obama re-nominated her in January and she was reported out of committee again in February without any backing from Republicans.

“There is no reason to treat any presidential nominee with such disrespect,” said Baca, the national president of the Federal Bar Association. “Surely a nomination of such historic importance should not be allowed to languish. This ‘first’ for Indian country deserves a confirmation vote.”

A Democratic aide said earlier this month that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) would have to file for cloture to cut off debate on her nomination. The aide said the minority leadership is holding up any nominee who is opposed by all Republicans in committee.

But Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said earlier this month that he hadn’t heard any discussion about moving her nomination. The Senate will be on recess next week for the Memorial Day holiday.

Smith is the only Assistant Attorney General nominee who is still waiting for a vote in the Senate.

She was one of three nominees returned to the White House in December and re-nominated in January. One of the nominees, Christopher Schroeder for the Office of Legal Policy, was confirmed last month. The other nominee, Dawn Johnsen for the Office of Legal Counsel, withdrew her nomination last month.

Schroeder was only opposed by a few Republicans in committee. Johnsen — like Smith — didn’t receive any GOP support in committee.

The Justice Department received resources to bring on 33 prosecutors to handle cases in Indian Country, Attorney General Eric Holder announced Tuesday.

The DOJ will use $6 million from its fiscal 2010 budget to hire Assistant U.S. Attorneys for 21 U.S. Attorney’s offices, which prosecute crimes that occur on American Indian reservations. We reported earlier today about the prosecutors who will be hired to fight Indian Country crime in Montana.

The resources will also help fund a pilot project that will assign three prosecutors to specific tribes. The Navajo Nation in New Mexico, the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and the Menominee Indian Tribe in the Eastern District of Wisconsin will each receive an Assistant U.S. Attorney to handle cases and help coordinate strategies to reduce crime on their reservations.

“Violent crimes, and particularly crimes against women and girls, continue to devastate tribal communities across the country, and the U.S. Attorney community is crucial to the Department of Justice’s response,” Holder said in a statement. “With 33 more federal prosecutors headed to Indian Country, and the launch of three new Community Prosecution Pilot Projects, we have made significant progress finding and implementing solutions to the public safety challenges confronting tribal communities.  This Administration is committed to reducing the level of violent crime in tribal communities.”

The DOJ has made American Indian issues a top priority. The department has issued a number of new policies and plans over the last year to address Indian Country crime, which former Deputy Attorney General David Ogden said earlier this year has hit “unacceptable levels” and is lowering the quality of life for American Indians.

Here’s the breakdown of where the prosecutors are headed:

Alaska: 1
Arizona: 5
Colorado: 1
Eastern District of Michigan: 1
Western District of Michigan: 1
Minnesota: 1
Southern District of Mississippi: 1
Montana: 3
Nebraska: 1
Nevada: 1
New Mexico: 2
Northern District of New York: 1
North Dakota: 1
Northern District of Oklahoma: 1
Western District of Oklahoma: 1
Oregon: 1
South Dakota: 2
Utah: 1
Eastern District of Washington: 1
Western District of Washington: 1
District of Wyoming: 2

The Montana U.S. Attorney’s office will hire three new prosecutors to combat crime on American Indian reservations in the state, the Great Falls Tribune reported Tuesday.

“I think we will be able to have a greater effect on the quality of life on Indian reservations,” Montana U.S. Attorney Michael Cotter told the newspaper. “Help is on the way.”

Cotter said he hopes to bring in the new prosecutors as soon as possible, but said the process could take months.

The Justice Department has made American Indian issues a top priority. Over the last year, the DOJ has issued a number of new policies and plans to address Indian Country crime, which former Deputy Attorney General David Ogden said earlier this year has hit “unacceptable levels” and is lowering the quality of life for American Indians.

The deadline for congressional approval of the settlement of a long-running class action suit filed on behalf of more than 300,000 American Indians has been extended until May 31, The Blog of Legal Times reported Thursday.

Lawyer Keith Harper, Elouise Cobell and Lawyer Bill Dorris at a House hearing last month (photo by Ryan J. Reilly).

Senior Judge James Robertson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia announced the new deadline for approval of the Cobell v. Salazar settlement in court Thursday following a 45-minute meeting with Justice and Interior lawyers and the attorneys for the plaintiffs.

The congressional deadline for endorsing the $1.41 billion deal has now been extended three times since Justice Department and Interior Department officials announced in December that they had reached a deal with the American Indian plaintiffs on the mishandling of thousands of individual Indian trust fund accounts over more than a century.

“The need for Congress to act is real,” Robertson said, according to The BLT. “It needs to get done.”

Robertson said he will hold a public hearing if Congress fails to approve the settlement by the May deadline.

Keith Harper, a lead attorney for the plaintiffs including Elouise Cobell, said he is  frustrated that Congress hasn’t held floor votes on the legislation to  endorse the settlement. Harper said the “vast majority” of people contacted by the plaintiffs support the deal.

Obama administration officials, including Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli and Interior Department Deputy Secretary David Hayes, have encouraged Congress to move on the settlement legislation quickly.

“The message from the judge today is this needs to get done,” Hayes told The BLT. “We welcome the message.”

A $2 million American Indian detention center for youth offenders remains empty and non-functioning five years after it was built using Justice Department grants, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis-St. Paul reported Sunday.

The center was finished in 2005 and the Red Lake Band of Chippewa, Minnesota’s most cash-strapped tribe, expected the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs to request more than $1 million a year to help run the 13,000-square-foot, 24-bed facility. But the BIA never requested the funding and the tribe said it does not have the money to operate the center. The tribe has now hired lawyers to take the federal government to court.

The plight of the Red Lake Band has caught the attention of Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and has frustrated former Minnesota U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger.

Heffelfinger told the Star Tribune that the delay on opening the facility is “ridiculous.”

“Just putting the bricks and mortar up and then walking away doesn’t solve the problem,” Heffelfinger told the newspaper.

A 2004 inspector general report of the Bureau of Indian Affairs was highly critical of efforts to open up more American Indian jails. According to the Star Tribune, the report said the detention program was “a national disgrace” that was hampered by “crisis of inaction, indifference, and mismanagement.”

The DOJ and Bureau of Indian Affairs declined to comment to the newspaper.