Tribal leaders and historians warn the planned closure of three National Archives locations will limit the public’s access to tribal enrollment information and documents revealing the atrocities committed at federal Indian boarding schools.

Facilities in Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle are slated to close but it remains unclear where hundreds of thousands of nondigitized records will be relocated or when they will be available again.

Jean-Luc Pierite, president of the North American Indian Center of Boston, said the descendants of boarding school students rely on the archives to help piece together their ancestry.

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"For people that are looking to get some closure to something that has happened within their family that has caused a lot of intergenerational trauma, those records are not going to be accessible," Pierite explained.

He noted historic census records of the Stockbridge-Munsee Tribe, which faced multiple forced relocations from New England, are stored in Chicago and could also be lost. The National Archives says the closures are needed to improve efficiency and cut costs.

Roughly 70% of American Indians and Alaska Natives live in urban centers, largely due to the federal government’s forced relocation policies starting in the 1950s and increasing poverty on reservations. Pierite pointed out the archives hold important documents on tribal members who moved to cities when promised social services and jobs.

He stressed the potential loss of those records and removal of race and ethnicity questions from the 2030 Census signal the Trump administration aims to neglect historic treaty obligations.

"Whatever the rationale is for these decisions, it has a really serious impact for what the United States has promised over these past 250 years," Pierite emphasized.

Tribal leaders said many of them only learned of the planned National Archives closures through media reports. Federal archivists have now scheduled two virtual meetings with tribal nations this week following public outcry.

Pierite added access to tribal records has grown more urgent due to what he called the federal government’s “racialized” immigration policies, which have led to American Indians being detained. He encouraged people to get their family tree in order and carry their tribal affiliation documents with them when in public.