"The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe got a frightening notice from the Trump administration just as residents are grappling with the devastating impact of COVID-19."

"The U.S. Interior Department is rescinding the reservation status of a Native American tribe whose plan to build a casino on its Massachusetts land was attacked by President Donald Trump last year.

The planned gaming operation would have competed for business with nearby Rhode Island casinos with strong ties to Trump, who once owned, then bankrupted, casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs informed the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe on Friday that its 321-acre Cape Cod reservation will be “disestablished” and its land taken out of federal trust, according to Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell. Land in trust to the federal government effectively grants a tribe special legal status and autonomy. The Mashpee Wampanoag, however, will still be officially recognized by the federal government as a Native American tribe, according to a spokesman for the Interior Department."

Mary Papenfuss reports for HuffPost March 29, 2020. [2]