North Carolina tribe still in land trust deadlock

The Catawba Indian Nation is the latest to see positive progress hamstrung by the Trump administration during the former casino mogul’s early term of presidential power.

The North Carolina tribe is still waiting on a land-into-trust application filed with the federal government more than four years ago, with recent administrative upheaval delaying the decision even further.

The tribe had its federal recognition restored in 1993 by legislation that was supposed to grant the right to establish a reservation of up to 4,200 acres along with access to a $32m trust fund that could be used for the purposes of purchasing land.

The reservation has yet to materialise and the nation has been hoping all the while to use a portion of the fund to buy the applied-for land for the construction of a $600m, 1.8m sq ft casino resort.