MAYETTA, Kan. – The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, whose forebears were displaced from the Great Lakes region by the U.S. government in the 1830s, now finds itself at the center of controversy. The uproar comes from fellow Native American groups over the tribe’s involvement in potential profits from a new, contentious venture: designing detention centers as part of former President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts.

In October, a newly formed business arm of the tribe secured a nearly $30 million federal contract to create initial designs for these facilities across the country. Facing significant backlash, tribal officials are now seeking to withdraw from the agreement.

Questions remain unanswered by tribal leaders and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security regarding the selection process for this substantial contract, which was awarded without the usual competitive bidding process. KPB Services LLC, the affiliate company involved, was founded in April by a former naval officer who promotes himself as an expert adviser for tribes and allied firms aiming to secure federal contracts.

The deal has sparked such controversy that the 4,500-member tribe has dismissed the economic development officials responsible for negotiating it.

“We’re being labeled as traitors to another race,” expressed Ray Rice, a 74-year-old tribe member, who mentioned the shock felt by many within the community. “We are brown, and they’re brown,” he added, highlighting the shared heritage between the tribes and immigrant communities affected by the deportation policies.

ICE deals with tribes generate scrutiny

Tribal Chairman Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick promised “full transparency” about what he described as an “evolving situation.” In a video message to tribal members Friday, he said the tribe is talking with legal counsel about ways to end the contract.

He alluded to the time when federal agents forcibly removed hundreds of Prairie Band Potawatomi families from their homes and ultimately corralled them on a reservation just north of Topeka.

“We know our Indian reservations were the government’s first attempts at detention centers,” Rupnick said in the video message. “We were placed here because we were prisoners of war. So we must ask ourselves why we would ever participate in something that mirrors the harm and the trauma once done to our people.”

The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way in September for federal agents to conduct sweeping immigration raids and use apparent ethnicity as a relevant factor for a stop. With some Native Americans being swept up and detained in recent raids, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s overtures to tribes and even longstanding deals are generating extra scrutiny.

An LLC owned by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in Alabama also has a multimillion dollar contract with ICE to provide financial and administrative services. Meanwhile, some shareholders of an Alaska Native corporation say their values don’t align with the corporation’s federal contracting division, Akima, to provide security at several ICE detention facilities.

“I’m shocked that there is any tribal nation that’s willing to assist the U.S. government in that,” said Brittany McKane, a 29-year-old Muscogee Nation citizen who attends the tribe’s college in Oklahoma.

Some tribal nations have advised their citizens to carry tribal IDs.

Last month, actor Elaine Miles said she was stopped by ICE agents who alleged her ID from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon was fake.

Economic pressure increases as federal funding decreases

The economic arms of tribes, which can be run by non-Natives, are under increasing pressure to generate revenue because of decreased federal funding, high inflation and competition from online gambling, said Gabe Galanda, an Indigenous rights attorney based in Seattle.

But the economic opportunities presented to tribes don’t always align with their values, said Galanda, a member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes in northern California.

The Prairie Band Potawatomi has a range of businesses that provide health care management staffing, general contracting and even interior design.

The tribal offshoot hired by ICE — KPB Services LLC — was established in Holton, Kansas, and is not listed on the tribe’s website. It previously qualified along with dozens of other companies to provide logistical support to the U.S. Navy although, to date, it hasn’t performed any work for the federal government.

The ICE contract initially was awarded in October for $19 million for unspecified “due diligence and concept designs” for processing centers and detention centers throughout the U.S., according to a one-sentence description of the work on the federal government’s real time contracting database. It was modified a month later to increase the payout ceiling to $29.9 million. Sole-source contracts above $30 million require additional justification under federal contracting rules.

The contract raises a number of questions and seems to go against the Trump administration’s stated of goal of cleaning up waste, fraud and abuse, said Attorney Joshua Schnell, who specializes in federal contracting law.

“The public’s trust in the federal procurement system depends on transparency and competition,” said Schnell. “Although there is a role within this system for multimillion dollar sole-source contracts, these contracts are an exception to statutory competition requirements, and taxpayers are entitled to know how the government is spending their money.”

Backlash swift as news about the ICE contract spread

It’s unclear what the Tribal Council knew about the contract. A spokesperson for the Tribal Council did not respond to repeated requests from the AP for details, including who was terminated.

What is known is that KPB was registered by Ernest C. Woodward Jr., a retired U.S. naval officer with degrees in engineering and business who is a member of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, according to a website for his one-time consulting firm, Burton Woodward Partners LLC.

The website described Woodward as a serial entrepreneur and tribal adviser on mergers and acquisitions, accessing capital and landing federal contracts. The consulting firm was registered to an office park in Sarasota, Florida, in 2017 but was delisted two years later after it failed to file an annual report.

The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in a 2017 news release said Woodward’s firm advised it on its acquisition of another government contractor, Mill Creek LLC, which specializes in outfitting federal buildings and the military with office furniture and medical equipment.

Woodward also is listed as the chief operating officer of the Florida branch of Prairie Band Construction Inc., which was registered in September.

Attempts to locate Woodward were unsuccessful. The phone number listed on Burton Woodward Partners was disconnected, and he did not respond to an email sent to another consulting firm he’s affiliated with, Virginia-based Chinkapin Partners LLC.

Carole Cadue-Blackwood, who has Prairie Band Potawatomi ancestry and is an enrolled member of the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas, hopes the contract dies. She has been part of the fight against an ICE detention center opening in Leavenworth, Kansas, and works for a social service agency for Native Americans.

“I’m in just utter disbelief that this has happened,” she said.

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Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas, and Goodman from Miami. Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma, and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.