The Seneca Nation is accusing the Salamanca Police Chief and Cattaraugus County District Attorney of discussing possible actions that, Nation Leaders say, would violate their sovereignty.
At issue are the Senecas’ desires to evict suspected drug traffickers and users from Nation land. President J. Conrad Seneca accuses Chief Jamie Deck and DA Lori Pettit Rieman of exchanging email messages, through which they considered filing charges of kidnapping against Seneca Marshals who may forcefully remove suspects from their territory, under Nation Exclusion Orders.
According to Seneca, Deck and Rieman pondered the question whether they could charge Seneca Marshals who try to forcefully remove undesired people from Nation land. The Nation president suggests they determine in that exchange that they could pursue criminal charges including kidnapping.
“That is a direct insult and disrespect to the sovereignty of the Seneca Nation, and certainly we are not going to stand by and allow that to happen," President Seneca said. "Actions like these are unconscionable. They should not occur. If there was any ever a question in regards to exclusion orders or the execution of them, or removal of people that have been excluded, the Cattaraugus County DA, the chief of police of Salamanca, should have reached out to us and had communication with us in regards to their concerns, if they had any, in regards to these exclusion orders in our authority.”
Rieman, in an email to BTPM NPR, says the conversation was taken out of context.
“I have been working with the Nation’s counsel to remove intruders with court orders from Supreme/County Court. Those are enforceable by law enforcement officers,” Rieman says in her written response. “While the Nation has sovereignty to exclude intruders, they, including marshals, do not have criminal jurisdiction. That is why we try to work with them. Potentially, we can charge the marshals with kidnapping and theft (for taking vehicles of intruders), but, I would rather work with them to remove intruders in state court. I completely respect their sovereignty and understand why they want these people removed-we just need to do it within the confines of the law.”
President Seneca has sent a letter to Salamanca Mayor Sandy Magiera demanding action from the City’s leaders.
The letter states, “I want to be crystal clear with you, neither I, nor the Nation’s Council, will tolerate interference by the City or the City police in the internal affairs of the Seneca Nation government to remove drug traffickers from our territory. The Nation has many options available to prevent Chief Deck and his police force from interfering in our sovereign right of self-government.” The letter goes on to suggest Deck “appears to be running interference for drug traffickers,” and demands assurances that his nation’s efforts to protect people from drug trafficking is not disrupted.
BTPM NPR placed a call to the office of Salamanca Mayor Sandy Magiera to ask if there was any comment, but the call was not returned as of Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the Salamanca Common Council was scheduled to hold a special session late Friday afternoon to discuss a personnel matter in executive session, but a clerk told BTPM it is a matter unrelated to the Seneca Nation’s complaint.