By Allan Wall

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 McGirt Decision resulted in most of eastern Oklahoma being declared Indian reservation land. According to the McGirt doctrine, Tulsa is all reservation land. Most of it is supposedly on the Muscogee (Creek) tribal reservation with part of it on the Cherokee reservation.

In June, Tulsa’s Mayor Monroe Nichols announced an agreement with the Muscogee (Creek) tribe in which the city of Tulsa pledges not to bring charges against American Indians in the city. This doesn’t just apply to card-carrying members of the Creek and Cherokee tribes. The policy applies to any member of any of the more than 574 federally recognized Indian tribes in the United States!

Any pending prosecutions against American Indian defendants are hereby dismissed.

Several state officials were on record as opposing this policy even before it was even officially announced:

– Donnie Anderson, Director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics: “Any settlement agreement that unnecessarily surrenders the State’s ability to prosecute human traffickers and drug dealers is a grave threat to public safety for all Oklahomans. Crime does not distinguish Oklahomans based on tribal membership, and neither should our law enforcement and prosecution efforts.”

– Governor Kevin Stitt (a card-carrying Cherokee) said that “Tulsa is essentially making itself a sanctuary city for tribal members engaged in criminal activity.”

– Tulsa District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler: “The idea that the City of Tulsa would abdicate its public safety charter and not allow the State to prosecute dangerous criminals solely based on their identity as an Indian is ludicrous. The State’s efforts to protect all citizens of Tulsa in no way infringes upon a tribe’s ability to do the same – whether they choose to do so or not. Kneecapping the Tulsa Police Department – one of the best in the country – from performing its public safety function puts all Tulsans in danger.”

– Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado: “Accountability must apply equally to all individuals, regardless of tribal affiliation or status. The Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office…will continue sending the appropriate cases to the Tulsa County District Attorney for consideration of charges.”

According to Mayor Nichols, on the other hand, this agreement is going to make the city safer: “As mayor, I pledged to make Tulsa the safest big city in the country and to co-govern with our tribal partners. Today, with this agreement, we are establishing systems to ensure that we move forward on both of those pledges with a solid framework.”

According to the new policy, crimes perpetrated in Tulsa by American Indians will not be prosecuted by the city, county or state of Oklahoma; but by the Muscogee tribe, or in the case of major crimes, the federal government.

The current Creek (Muscogee) tribal police force consists of 108 employees. The supposed Muscogee Nation reservation consists of 11 counties, including most of Tulsa. Can they handle it?

Can cross-deputization take up the slack? That’s questionable. The Creek tribe previously had such cross-deputization agreement with Hughes County, but in 2022 the county ended the agreement. Why? Most of the work and expenses were being dumped on Hughes County. On the other hand, arrested Indians turned over to the Creek tribe were rarely prosecuted.

On a true Indian reservation, such as the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, the Indian tribe is the authority in the entire territory of the reservation.

But in these phony Oklahoma “McGirt reservations,” the tribes don’t have enough personnel to police the entire territory.

The Muscogee tribe is now suing the city of Henryetta over this issue. It’s not going away.

Obviously, McGirt causes chaos for law enforcement. But what about other areas of the law? On July 1st, 2025, the Oklahoma Supreme Court decided on that in its Stroble v. Oklahoma Tax Commission decision.

Alicia Stroble is a member and employee of the Creek tribe. She and her lawyers claimed that as a tribal member residing and employed on the reservation, the state of Oklahoma has no authority to tax her. The Oklahoma Supreme Court did not agree, ruling that the U.S. Supreme Court McGirt decision applied to criminal law but not to civil and regulatory law.

So that ruling at least limits the reach of McGrath, right? One would hope so, but given the way these legal changes develop, I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.

So, what is the solution?

The constitutional solution to this question is found in Article I, Section 8, which stipulates that “Congress shall have Power …To regulate Commerce … with the Indian Tribes.” The U.S. Congress could simply declare that Oklahoma has no reservations. Case closed.

Allan Wall is a Spanish teacher in a public school and resided for a decade and a half in Mexico. Allan writes about immigration-related issues, the contemporary Mexican scene, and how immigration is viewed south of the border. His website is www.allanwall.info