This document spells out the categories the federal government is using regarding
Dineh on, and off, HPL. In sum, it says that forced relocation becomes an issue if
the Hopi decide to pursue legal action against resisters under the 1996 relocation
law.
http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/assets/crs/RL32893.pdf
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Order Code RL32893
Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies:
FY2006 Appropriations
Updated February 3, 2006
on page 69
"Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation
The Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation (ONHIR) and its predecessor were
created pursuant to a 1974 act (P.L. 93-531, as amended) to resolve a lengthy
dispute between the Hopi and Navajo tribes involving lands originally set aside by
the federal government for a reservation in 1882. Pursuant to the 1974 act, the
lands were partitioned between the two tribes. Members of one tribe living on land
partitioned to the other tribe were to be relocated and provided new homes, and
bonuses, at federal expense. Relocation is to be voluntary.
ONHIR’s chief activities consist of land acquisition, housing acquisition or
construction, infrastructure construction, and post-move support, all for families
being relocated, as well as certification of families’ eligibility for relocation
benefits. Congress has been concerned, at times, about the speed of the relocation
process and about avoiding forced relocations or evictions.
For FY2005, ONHIR received an appropriation of $4.9 million, a 63% reduction from
FY2004, when it received $13.4 million. Congress reduced funding because it
anticipated that carryover funds from previous fiscal years would offset the
reduction in appropriations. ONHIR estimates it will use $18.9 million in carryover
funds in FY2005. For FY2006, the Administration proposed $8.6 million in
appropriations, a 74% increase from FY2005. (ONHIR’s proposal included using $10.4
million in carryover funds in FY2006.) Congress approved the Administration’s
proposed FY2006 appropriations for ONHIR.
Navajo-Hopi relocation began in 1977 and is not yet complete. ONHIR has a backlog of
relocatees who are approved for replacement homes but have not yet received them.
Most families subject to relocation were Navajo. An estimated 3,400 eligible Navajo
families resided on land partitioned (or judicially confirmed) to the Hopi, while
only 26 eligible Hopi families lived on Navajo partitioned land, according to ONHIR
data. Moreover about 250 Navajo families — only some of them among the 3,400
eligible families — signed “accommodation agreements” in the late 1990s under P.L.
104-301 (a 1996 settlement of related Hopi-U.S. issues) that allowed them to stay on
Hopi land under Hopi law. About half of them, however, may wish to opt out of these
agreements and relocate using ONHIR benefits, according to ONHIR.
Of the 26 Hopi families on Navajo partitioned land, 100% were relocated to
replacement homes by the end of FY2004, according to ONHIR. While 96% of the Navajo
families have completed relocation, ONHIR estimates that 130 Navajo families were
awaiting relocation as of the end of FY2004. Of these 130 remaining Navajo families,
119 are not currently residing on Hopi partitioned land but are in various stages of
acquiring replacement housing (50 of the 119 families are currently having homes
built, or seeking homes; others are in earlier stages). Eleven of the 130 Navajo
families are still residing on Hopi partitioned land, according to ONHIR. Three of
these 11 Navajo families are having homes built or seeking homes, but the other
eight families refuse to relocate or sign an accommodation agreement. ONHIR and the
U.S. Department of Justice are negotiating with the Hopi Tribe to allow the eight
families to stay on Hopi land, as autonomous families, in return for ONHIR’s
relocating off Hopi land those families who signed agreements but wish to opt out.
ONHIR estimated in its FY2006 budget justification that relocation moves for
currently eligible families will be completed by the end of FY2006. The addition of
Navajo families who have opted out of accommodation agreements, and of Navajo
families who filed late applications or appeals but whom ONHIR proposes to
accommodate to avoid litigation — together estimated at 210 families — would mean
that all relocation moves would not be completed until the end of FY2008, according
to ONHIR. However, this schedule would depend on infrastructure needs and
relocatees’ decisions. Required post-move assistance to relocatees would necessitate
another two years of expenditures after the last relocation move (whether in FY2006
or FY2008), according to ONHIR. ONHIR contends that the government would be
vulnerable to litigation if the 210 families were not accommodated. Congress has at
times expressed impatience at the speed of relocation, and legislation has been
introduced in this Congress (S. 1003) to sunset ONHIR in 2008 and transfer any
remaining duties to the Secretary of the Interior.
A long-standing proviso in ONHIR appropriations language, retained for FY2006 in the
appropriations law, prohibits ONHIR from evicting any Navajo family from Hopi
partitioned lands unless a replacement home were provided. This language appears to
prevent ONHIR from forcibly relocating Navajo families in the near future, because
of ONHIR’s backlog of approved relocatees awaiting replacement homes. As the backlog
is reduced, however, forced eviction may become an issue, if any remaining Navajo
families refuse relocation and if the Hopi Tribe were to exercise a right under P.L.
104-301 to begin legal action against the United States for failure to give the Hopi
Tribe “quiet possession” of all Hopi partitioned lands. The agreement that ONHIR
reports it is negotiating with the Justice Department and the Hopi Tribe seeks to
avoid this."