Chu Opening Statement at Field Hearing in Arizona

(As prepared for delivery)

I want to begin by saying thank you to the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community for welcoming us to this hearing here today on this beautiful land. Thank you to Tribal leadership, elected Council members, and our distinguished witnesses for being here today.

I also want to thank our witnesses for joining us as we discuss challenges facing the American Indian Population as well as the residents of Arizona regarding the issues under the jurisdiction of this committee, including health, workforce development, family support, and tax issues.  

I am proud of the work that President Biden and Democrats in Congress have done to prioritize the needs of Tribal nations and Native communities. For instance, our American Rescue Plan included a $32 billion direct federal investment in Tribal Nations—the largest in U.S. history! And the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invested $13 billion in high-speed internet, roads, bridges, public transit, clean water, and sanitation throughout Tribal communities.

While I am proud of this progress, we know there is much work to be done to ensure we meet our commitments to tribal nation children and families who live both on and off tribal lands. And I’m especially concerned about tribal children who come into contact with the child welfare system.

Before the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, or ICWA, as many as one-third of Native children were forcibly removed from their homes by state child welfare and private adoption agencies, often without any justification, and the vast majority of these children were placed in white, Christian homes—outside of the families and communities they know best. But the passage of ICWA set federal requirements designed to provide culturally appropriate services and keep Native children in their community whenever possible. For instance, agencies and courts must first consider placement with relatives or, if that is not possible, with other families within the Tribal community where they can remain connected to their culture and identity.

The bill was under threat at the Supreme Court last year, but fortunately the Court upheld ICWA. But even with ICWA in place, we have to do more to meet these goals. Last year, I was approached by Chairman Martin of the Morongo tribe in Southern California, who was concerned about California’s disproportionate high rate of Native children entering the child welfare system. These children are 4.5 times more likely to enter care than their non-Native counterparts, and he explained to me that these children are still more likely to be placed outside of their own communities away from tribal and cultural connections.

That is why I introduced H.R. 3461, the Strengthening Tribal Families Act, along with Representative Don Bacon. This bill would assist state child welfare agencies in implementing federal protections for tribal children by strengthening the relationships between these agencies and the courts. The bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services to assess states’ implementation of ICWA so that we can know ICWA is actually being implemented state by state.

And as we discuss the importance of family building and preservation today, I want to emphasize that this includes the ability of all parents, including Native parents, to decide when and whether to start or continue their family. To that end, I want to thank our witness, Rachael Lorenzo, for being here, and recognize the work that they and their team do to provide reproductive freedom for native people in both New Mexico and Arizona. Like so many others, I was horrified when the Arizona Supreme Court upheld an abortion ban enacted before Arizona was a state, before women could even vote. And so I appreciate the work that you do at Indigenous Women Rising to ensure that the women in your community retain the ability to make choices about their own bodies. I additionally want to acknowledge and thank you and your team for the work that you do to support indigenous women through their pregnancies should they choose to continue them, and to ensure they have a supportive birth experience, and a healthy delivery.