Illicit trafficking of Tribal cultural and religious items

[admin]

Written testimony of ICE Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge El Paso Waldemar Rodriguez for a Senate Committee on Indian Affairs field hearing titled
“The Theft, Illegal Possession, Sale, Transfer and Export of Tribal Cultural Items”

Release Date: October 18, 2016

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Chairman Barrasso, Vice Chairman Tester, Senator Udall, Senator Heinrich, and distinguished Members of the Committee:

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the efforts of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to protect cultural and religious items, property, art and antiquities, and mitigate their illicit trafficking both into and out of the United States.

As the largest investigative agency within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ICE investigates a wide range of domestic and international activities arising from the illegal movement of people, goods, and money with a nexus to the borders of the United States. Federal customs law regarding smuggling and trafficking, as well as customs border search authority provide ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with the capability and responsibility to take a leading role in investigating crimes involving the import and distribution of stolen or looted cultural property, and prosecuting those individuals and organizations responsible for these crimes. ICE is the lead federal investigative agency with respect to export enforcement due to its jurisdiction over the investigation of crimes related to the U.S. border. However, investigations into the export of Tribal cultural items present challenges due to limitations on existing authorities and enforcement resources. To conduct its complex investigations, ICE may collaborate with Tribal, Federal, State and local law enforcement, private institutions, and foreign governments. ICE has the ability to work directly with cultural resources practitioners to support these collaborative investigations.

ICE’s Cultural Property, Art and Antiquities (CPAA) Program

ICE has established the Cultural Property, Art and Antiquities (CPAA) program to oversee efforts related to the protection of cultural property. The mission of the CPAA program is three-fold: conduct training on the preservation, protection, and investigation of cultural heritage and property; coordinate and support investigations involving the illicit trafficking of cultural property from countries around the world; and facilitate the repatriation of illicit cultural items seized as a result of HSI investigations to the artifacts’ lawful owners.

Education and Training

With funding provided by the Cultural Heritage Center (CHC) within the U.S. Department of State (DOS) and support from the Smithsonian Institution, ICE continues to train law enforcement officers on the handling, investigation, and seizure of items believed to be another nation’s cultural property.

Since 2007, approximately 400 special agents, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, prosecutors, and representatives of foreign law enforcement have been trained by experts in the fields of cultural property law, targeting, intelligence, archeology, and museum conservation. In recent years, part of the training was held at the National Museum of the American Indian, where participants received guided tours of exhibits by experts. Our goal is to train as many law enforcement officers as possible to broaden the base of expertise in cultural property investigations. Today, ICE is working more closely than ever with CBP to ensure the efforts of our agents and officers are fully integrated throughout the lifecycle of a case.

In Fiscal Year (FY) 2016, the CPAA program has also been represented in multiple conferences and workshops and the program is working with several different federal government agencies to develop more training and capacity-building workshops for FY 2017.

Education is not limited to law enforcement personnel directly involved in investigations and prosecutions. In less formal settings, ICE continues to educate potential brokers and purchasers of cultural property on the importance of provenance (history of ownership) and encourages individuals to report any encounters with individuals seeking to sell merchandise to the HSI Tip Line.

Investigations

The CPAA program plays a supporting role in cultural property investigations by identifying subject matter experts to authenticate items that may have indigenous cultural and religious significance, coordinating leads with other offices, and acting as a liaison to INTERPOL and law enforcement agencies. The program supports ICE’s approximately 7,000 special agents in more than 200 domestic offices throughout the United States and 63 international attaché offices. While any ICE special agent may work a cultural property case at some time in his or her career, HSI New York has a team of special agents that works exclusively on cultural property cases. HSI Los Angeles has also recently established its own specialized team whose focus will include cultural property investigations.

Investigations into indigenous cultural property trafficking could result from a variety of leads, including: a direct request from Tribal leadership; CBP as a result of border searches, interdictions; foreign country notification of a sale at an auction house; the CPAA program; ICE Attachés; as well as lines of inquiry generated by a special agent. ICE enforces the cultural artifact import restrictions of bilateral agreements the United States (through DOS) has with 15 countries (Belize, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Cyprus, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, Mali, Nicaragua and Peru), as well as import restrictions for Iraq and Syria. These bilateral agreements help protect cultural property by imposing U.S. import restrictions on certain categories of archeological and/or ethnological material. Even with import restrictions in place, a single cultural property investigation can result in complex cases involving multiple domestic and international ICE offices, as well as other law enforcement agencies, and can last for years. For example, one of ICE’s largest, ongoing cultural property investigations, Hidden Idols, began in 2007 and has resulted in the seizure of more than $150 million in artifacts. In FY 2015, ICE worked 239 domestic and 102 international cultural property investigations.

Investigating Cases with a Nexus to Tribal Cultural Items

ICE enforces an extremely broad set of federal laws and regulations with jurisdiction over the investigation of crimes related to the U.S. border. While ICE is the lead investigative agency for the illegal import or export of cultural property, ICE would not typically be the lead investigatory agency for the theft and illegal transport of Tribal cultural items within the United States. For example, if customs officers were to discover that Tribal cultural items were transported into or out of the United States in violation of existing import or export law, ICE would have authority and jurisdiction to conduct an investigation.

Buyers and sellers of illicitly obtained antiquities, cultural, and religious items often do not limit themselves to one type of artifact. As a result, ICE has worked cases involving smuggled antiquities from foreign sources only to find Tribal cultural items are also part of a criminal’s cache of artifacts. For example, as part of an ongoing investigation of the illicit sale of pre-Columbian artifacts, ICE discovered that Tribal cultural items were also being offered for purchase by the same seller.

In another case, an individual in the Southwest collected both Tribal and Egyptian cultural items, resulting in a case requiring involvement by ICE, the Department of Justice, and the Department of the Interior. A further example of collaboration with other law enforcement agencies was an investigation involving the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Forest Service. In this case, ICE worked with the other agencies to search a residence in Arizona and seize Tribal cultural items as well as controlled substances and weapons. ICE’s authorities related to the protection of Tribal cultural items also extend to intellectual property rights, such as the selling of imported goods being fraudulently marketed as Native American jewelry.

Cultural Repatriation

Cultural property investigations often result in the seizure of cultural property, which must be repatriated to its lawful owners through a legal forfeiture process. The CPAA program oversees these cultural repatriations, which can be a small exchange after the legal process is completed or it can include a grand ceremony that commemorates the items’ return at the country’s embassy in Washington, D.C. or even within the country itself. Repatriation of Tribal cultural and religious items could occur on Tribal lands and within the Tribal customs and traditions as required by the Tribe itself. Whatever the venue, returning a piece of a country’s history and heritage to its people is a celebration, and an event in which ICE is particularly proud to participate.

ICE has returned a wide variety of items including paintings, pottery, sculptures, fossils, and sarcophagi. In FY 2016 alone, we repatriated a first edition of Charles Darwin’s book, Origin of the Species, to Canada; terra cotta figures, jade implements, and a 115 million year-old microraptor fossil to China; a dinosaur skull to Mongolia; imperial decrees to Russia; and several million dollars in statuary and sculptures to the Prime Minister of India during his official visit to the United States. Since 2007, we have returned more than 7,750 items to more than 30 countries.

Conclusion

Thank you again for the opportunity to testify here in Albuquerque and for your continued support of ICE and its law enforcement mission. ICE remains committed to working with this committee and Tribal governments to continue our strong relationship going forward to help prevent and combat the illicit trafficking of Tribal cultural and religious items.

- - -
PROTECT Patrimony Resolution.
"My resolution calls on our federal government to work with our nation's tribal entities to combat, on a global scale, the theft, illegal possession, transfer, sale, and export of tribal cultural items. It passed!" - Congressman Steve Pearce

Congressman Pearce’s Resolution to Stop Illegal Sale of Tribal Items Passes House

Washington, D.C. (September 22, 2016): Yesterday evening, the House passed H. Con Res. 122, the Protection of the Right of Tribes to Stop the Export of Cultural and Traditional Patrimony (PROTECT Patrimony) Resolution:

“Our history shapes our future and we must fight to preserve it. New Mexico is home to numerous tribal entities and their culture and religion are deeply embedded in what it means to be New Mexican. Not only must we honor this rich culture and history, we must fight to protect it by preventing the illegal theft and sale of tribal cultural items.

“These sacred items should not be for sale to the highest bidder. My resolution calls on the federal government to work with our nation’s tribal entities to combat, on a global sale, the theft, illegal possession, transfer, sale, and export of these cultural items. We have a responsibility to put a stop to this practice and I thank all of my colleagues for supporting this effort, as well as the tribal leaders who have worked to bring awareness to this issue,” said Congressman Pearce.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUZTYRgwZyg&feature=youtu.be

Background:

In 2013, a New Mexico Pueblo reached out to Congressman Pearce’s office to help retrieve sacred masks. The Congressman’s office worked to ensure a majority of these items were returned. This year, a number of cultural items were listed for auction overseas, one item was a shield from the Acoma Pueblo. The shield was eventually withdrawn from auction.

The Congressman introduced the PROTECT Patrimony Resolution in on March 2, 2016. In early July, Congressman Pearce, Chairman Bob Goodlatte, and Chairman James Sensenbrenner initiated a request with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to examine how the federal government currently investigates the theft and sale of tribal items and what reforms can be made to further prevent this practice in the future. On August 11, 2016 the GAO accepted this request and committed to begin their examination at the beginning of 2017. Last night, Congressman Pearce’s resolution passed by voice vote.
http://www.scsun-news.com/story/news/2016/12/08/pearce-leads-effort-protect-tribal-patrimony/95145448/

Congressman Pearce, Chairman Goodlatte, and Chairman Sensenbrenner Initiate Investigation into Illegal Theft and Sale of Tribal Artifacts
Jul 5, 2016 Issues: Congressional Issues
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 5, 2016

Congressman Pearce, Chairman Goodlatte, and Chairman Sensenbrenner Initiate Investigation into Illegal Theft and Sale of Tribal Artifacts

Washington, D.C. (July 5, 2016) – Last week, Congressman Steve Pearce (R-NM), Chairman Bob Goodlatte, and Chairman James Sensenbrenner, initiated a request with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to examine how the federal government currently investigates the theft and sale of tribal items and what reforms can be made to further prevent this practice in the future. This letter follows Congressman Pearce’s introduction of H. Con. Res. 122, the Protection of the Right of Tribes to Stop the Export of Cultural and Traditional Patrimony (PROTECT Patrimony) Resolution, which was introduced in early March:

“The protection, education, and promotion of our culture and heritage are vital to the survival to the way of life and civilizations. Deeply embedded into what it means to be New Mexican are the cultures, religions, and histories of the tribal people that called our state home long before the United States existed. Unfortunately, all too often, Native American remains, religious symbols, and artifacts are stolen and lost to the black market. It is a practice that is not well known, but one that must stop.

“This is why I introduced the PROTECT Patrimony Resolution, which called for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to examine how we can overhaul the way we currently protect these sacred items and make them more successful in their mission. Last week, Chairman Goodlatte, Chairman Sensenbrenner, and I sent a letter to the GAO to do just this. The study will shed light on what methods will work best to protect these items. We must avoid blindly introducing legislation that will only add to the bureaucracy or possibly duplicate current efforts. Rather, we should look at how to make this system as efficient as possible. I look forward to having the report back by the end of the year.

“I greatly appreciate the support of my colleagues in this fight. Of equal significance, has been tribal leaders’ work throughout the nation, that have come together to raise greater awareness about this issue. They are a true example of how Washington can and will react when the people demand it,” said Congressman Pearce.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA): “It is important that we preserve America’s heritage, including valuable Native American artifacts. I thank Representative Pearce for his work on this issue and look forward to reviewing the GAO’s report to see if more can be done to protect these cultural items.”

Congressman Sensenbrenner: “Knowing and preserving a culture’s history is vital to its future. That’s why it’s important to stand with our nation’s Native American tribes as they fight to reclaim their heritage and preserve the artifacts that show their long and rich history.”

Acoma Governor Kurt Riley: “The Pueblo of Acoma thanks Congressmen Stevan Pearce, and Chairmen Bob Goodlatte and F. James Sensenbrenner for requesting that the Comptroller General of the United States investigate the illegal removal and trafficking of Native American cultural objects. These objects are central to the cultural identity and practices of Indian tribes across America. A GAO report will not only provide valuable information for combatting this illegal activity, but also is consistent with House Concurrent Resolution 122, otherwise known as the PROTECT Patrimony Resolution, which Congressman Pearce sponsored and which condemns such illegal activities. Acoma looks forward to continuing to work closely with Congressman Pearce and Chairman Goodlatte and Chairman Sensenbrenner to identify further how the Federal government can assist tribes in addressing this ongoing concern.”

NCAI Executive Director Jackie Johnson Pata: NCAI is appreciative that Chairmen Goodlatte and Sensenbrenner, along with Congressman Pearce have requested that the General Accountability Office review the federal government’s actions in relation to the trafficking of illegally obtained Native American cultural items. This report will provide a roadmap for how the federal government can fulfill its trust responsibility in a way that preserves and protects the tribal cultural items that are such a fundamental part of our history and are core to the well-being of future generations.

Background:

In 2013, a New Mexico Pueblo requested reached out to Congressman Pearce’s office requesting help in retrieving sacred masks. My office worked with the Pueblo to ensure a majority of these items were returned to their rightful owners. This year, a number of cultural items were listed for auction overseas, one of the items a sacred shield from the Acoma Pueblo. The shield was eventually withdrawn from auction. However, the Congressman still moved forward with his resolution.

Pearce Introduces Resolution to Protect Tribal Artifacts

Washington, DC (March 2, 2016) Congressman Steve Pearce issued the following statement after he introduced the Protection of the Right of Tribes to Stop the Export of Cultural and Traditional Patrimony (PROTECT Patrimony) Resolution:

“New Mexico’s history, culture, and heritage are unlike any other in the United States. Our lineage is one we must honor, and it is one we must protect. New Mexico is home to over 20 tribal entities that add deeply to our culture and heritage. Fundamental to protecting this past is educating present and future generations. Items with a cultural, traditional, and historical importance are essential to this education and promotion of our diverse history. Sacred cultural items continue to be highly sought after and sold both domestically and internationally. We as New Mexicans and we as Americans have a responsibility to bring this practice to a halt. My resolution calls on the federal government to work with our nation’s tribal entities and allies globally to combat the theft, illegal possession, transfer, sale, and export of these cultural objects.” said Congressman Steve Pearce.

Representative Tom Cole from Oklahoma, and Representative Betty McCollum from Minnesota, who chair the Native American Caucus, have joined Congressman Pearce as cosponsors of this resolution. Additionally, the resolution has received tremendous support from Native American organizations throughout the country.

“For too long, the sale of cultural patrimony has occurred both domestically and internationally despite prohibitions in tribal and federal law. Every effort must be taken to prevent these crimes from being committed. I appreciate Congressman Pearce supporting Native American culture and heritage with the introduction of this resolution,” said Governor E. Paul Torres, Pueblo of Isleta and Chairman of the All Pueblos Council of Governors.

“The Pueblo of Acoma is deeply appreciative of the work of our Congressman, Representative Steve Pearce, in introducing a congressional resolution that will bring national attention to the black market in tribal cultural items. In the past year, there were 10 incidents in the United States involving at least 24 items of Acoma cultural patrimony that, under Acoma law, were illegally removed from our lands and offered for sale by auction houses, art galleries, and on Internet sites. This theft of our tribal patrimony is very damaging to our culture and offensive to our values. The federal government can do more to stop this illicit trade and we are grateful for Congressman Pearce’s leadership in this area,” said Governor Kurt Riley, Governor of the Pueblo of Acoma.

Jacqueline Pata, Executive Director of the National Congress of American Indians, (NCAI) commented:

“Indian Tribes have been disproportionally affected by the theft, illegal sale, and alienation of cultural, historical, and ceremonial items. The sale and possession of these items both domestically and internationally, is in violation of federal and tribal laws. NCAI's membership has taken a strong stand against the misappropriation of these items and asks the federal government to take affirmative action to stop these illegal practices. NCAI applauds Congressman Pearce's leadership on this issue and supports this resolution which will bring much needed focus and awareness to an issues of great importance to tribal governments,” said Jacqueline Pata, Executive Director, NCAI.

Brian Patterson, President of the United South and Eastern Tribes Inc., added:

“The ability of Tribal Nations to rebuild and create a healthy future depends, in large part, on how we are able to understand our respective pasts. The ongoing theft and commercial sale of cultural, traditional, and sacred objects must stop, as it robs our Tribal Nations of the ability to clearly understand our history, heritage, and traditions. These sacred objects, which often include human remains, must be returned to their people. Congressman Pearce’s resolution elevates this issue to national prominence, providing for a renewed dialogue on cultural repatriation. It is USET SPF’s hope that Congress will hold hearings and take action, in support of Tribal Nations, to address this illegal trafficking, and to protect cultural and sacred artifacts,” said Brian Patterson, President of the United South and Eastern Tribes Sovereignty Protection Fund.