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Crooked Media has launched season two of This Land, hosted by journalist and Cherokee Nation citizen, Rebecca Nagle. This Land returns with another look into a legal battle Native Americans are facing across the county.
Over eight episodes, Nagle will take listeners through the 40-year history of the Indian Child Welfare Act and narrate her more than year-long investigation into a current federal lawsuit, Brackeen v. Haaland, spurred by an adoption dispute in Dallas.
The investigation included hundreds of interviews with caseworkers, lawyers, families, more than 60 FOIA requests, and more than 10,000 court documents and ultimately, what Nagle and her investigative team – including Critical Frequency’s Amy Westervelt – discovered is a well-funded, systemic, far-right operation that is using Native children to attack ICWA, threaten American Indian tribes and advance a conservative agenda.
“When I started this investigation, I had no idea it would lead to a powerful group of corporate lawyers and one of the biggest law firms in the country. From years of family separation policies to nefarious big oil operations, there’s so much to unpack here beyond fraught adoption disputes,” said This Land host Rebecca Nagle. “I hope that This Land will bring additional attention to the case, because even though we’ve made some discoveries no one has previously been able to figure out, I believe we’ve barely just scratched the surface.”