Yakama Nation
From the 50
State Visitors Guide : Washington State
Rev. Code Wash. 2025 §4.24.550, §§9A.44.128 through
9A.44.145.
Registration Triggers and Deadlines:
Initial registration for
permanent residents, students, and in-state workers is 3 business days from
arrival; updates within 3 business days. §9A.44.130(4).
Visitors who intend to reside or be present in the
state for 10 days or more must register with county sheriff within 3 business
days of arrival. §9A.44.130(4)(a)(iv).
Transient registrants must re-register weekly, and report any
movement to a new county for 24 hours or more within 3 business days.
§9A.44.130(4).
Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:
Residence
restriction: Certain L2 and
L3 offenders on supervision may not reside within 880 ft. of a school. §9.94A.030(6)
Procedure available for removal from registry
after departure.
Duration & updates:
10 years to life. Updates: L2&3 – 90 days; L1 – Annually. §9A.44.140.
Why am I posting Yakama Nation separately from the State of Washington?
Because of this display board that I
saw at the Yakama Nation Cultural Center:
As you can see, the Yakama Nation is pretty clear about the fact they don’t consider themselves part of the State of Washington. From the sound of it, they actually consider themselves to be a truly separate Nation that had a treaty forced upon them in 1855 by another separate nation that they are not part of either, i.e. the United States.
But my job here is to discuss what might be the registry implications of all this. Surely by now you must be asking yourself the same question I asked myself upon seeing this display – Gee whiz, if you’re not part of Washington State or even the US generally, do you even have a registry law? And if not, could I move to the Yakama Nation and escape the cruelties of the American registry system?
Yes, I fantasized about that
for a few minutes. And here’s my answer:
ABSOLUTELY NOT !!
First, NO I have done no research at all into whether the Yakama Nation has its own registry law. It’s pointless to even do this research because as sure as the Sun will rise, the State of Washington isn’t buying any of the Yakama Nation’s bravado and asserts that their laws (including their registry) apply everywhere including on the reservation.
Furthermore, the Yakama people are unlikely to roll out the welcome mat for some outsider that’s moving there to escape “justice.” In fact, once the Yakama Nation Police Department figure out why you’re there, their most likely reaction will be to kick you out and hand you over to State authorities. Now you’re looking at a Failure to Register charge with whatever consequences that might bring in Washington State.
Also, why would anybody of sound mind want to confine oneself to a single reservation that would effectively become your prison? There are few services or towns on the reservation, and any time you had to go into the off-reservation town of Yakima to get something you’d be taking a risk. After a few moments of thought the whole idea sounds pretty stupid, doesn’t it?
Last but not least, Washington State has one of the most humane registries in the entire US. If you’re not on paper, there are no residency or presence restrictions at all, and you can come and go as you please, including interstate travel and entering the Yakama Nation whenever you want. Why would you want to, essentially, send yourself to prison to escape from that?
All that aside, the Yakama Nation is an interesting place
The Treaty of 1855 was a really shitty deal that took away 9/10 of Yakama traditional lands, but looking at a map these days their reservation is bigger than most. And as you can see, they jealously defend their rights and sovereignty under that treaty. Here are a few photos from the cultural center:
However, history has a way of taking odd turns, and so it is that 170 years later the Yakama Nation finds itself in the middle of Washington State’s wine country! I admit I stuck pretty close to State Road 22 a.k.a. “Wine Country Road” but everywhere I went there were grape vines as far as the eye could see (and some corn). So the Yakama now find themselves in the interesting position of being wine exporters.
As a result, towns like Wapato and Toppenish seem economically in pretty good shape. However, as major grape growers the Yakama have had to bring in a specialized agricultural work force (stealing them from California perhaps). Spanish is the dominant language in the towns. That’s no problem for me but seeing it I had two thoughts:
1. It’s interesting that in this case, the imported latino work force can be viewed as “fellow Native Americans” instead of the carpetbaggers seen elsewhere, and
2. I wonder how the Yakama Nation might feel about ICE (whose authority they don’t even recognize within their Nation) entering their territory and snatching their specialized agricultural work force that they worked so hard to steal from California? I’ll bet they wouldn’t take kindly to that at all!
So there you have it. Although moving to the Yakama Nation is a
ridiculous idea for us as registered people, if you are a latino agricultural
worker with specialized grape growing skills, living under the protection of
the Yakima Nation might seem like a really good idea.
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