Belcourt, North Dakota (AP)

The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Tribal Council has voted to banish or withhold tribal services from people involved in illegal drugs, crimes against children, sex crimes and other serious offenses.

The council vote was unanimously during late March to enact the “exclusion and removal” ordinance on the reservation.

“It’s primarily intended for any individual who may violate the peace, welfare and happiness of the tribal membership,” said Tribal Chairman Ken Davis.

The ordinance says people who commit an offense within tribal jurisdiction first will be warned that they could be banished from the reservation. A second offense could lead to banishment for up to three years, and a third offense could lead to a permanent ban from the reservation.

The ordinance covers Indians and non-Indians, tribal officials said.

Tribal members could be banned from health and education services on the reservation. “They won’t lose their membership, and they won’t lose their eligibility for services, but they will lose their access to these services,” Davis said.

Nonmembers may be banished from the reservation for lesser infractions, Davis said.

“If a nonmember is found guilty of drug possession, he could be banished immediately,” he said.

The ordinance is not retroactive, meaning people living and working on the reservation who have earlier drug or sex-related convictions will not be banished unless they commit new crimes, Davis said.

At least seven Minnesota Indian bands have either passed or used banishment-type laws. Another tribe, the Lummi Nation in Washington state, said in 2004 that it would use banishment more often to deal with drug problems.

“It is becoming an approach on some reservations,” Davis said. “Even non-Indian courts have used this approach, where they’ve said ‘Get out of town and don’t come back.”’