Indian Nations Law Update - May/June 2022

In Oertwich v. Traditional Village of Togiak, 2022 WL 951272 (9th Cir. 2022), Oertwich, a non-Native, had lived in Togiak, an Alaskan Native Village (Tribe), for over thirty years and operated the Airport Inn there. The Village had its own law enforcement officers and the State of Alaska provided law enforcement assistance through its Village Public Safety Officer (VPSO) Program. After VPSO officer alerted the Village to the arrival of a suspicious package at the airport, a Village officer opened it and discovered alcohol, whereupon the Togiak Tribal Court issued an order banishing Oertwich from the Native Village of Togiak Tribe for "possession of prohibited controlled substances." Native officers put Oertwich on a plane for Dillingham, Washington. When Oertwich returned to Togiak the following day, Village officers and a VPSO officer incarcerated him in the City of Togiak jail, bound him and placed him on a plane bound for Dillingham. Oertwich sued the Tribe, its