Lawmakers try again to ban export of tribal relics

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A group of U.S. lawmakers made another push Thursday to ban collectors and vendors from exporting American Indian ceremonial items to foreign markets, including Paris, where the practice of auction houses listing tribal pieces for sale has been debated for years.

The lawmakers introduced legislation that would increase penalties within the United States for trafficking objects that tribes hold sacred by increasing prison time from five years to 10 years for violating the law more than once.

At the same time, the bill would establish a framework for collectors to return protected items to tribes and avoid facing penalties.

The change was proposed by a group that includes New Mexico Democrats U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich as well as U.S. Reps. Ben Ray Lujan and Deb Haaland.

In 2016, Heinrich blamed federal legal loopholes for stifling efforts to retrieve a ceremonial shield from a Paris auction house that year.

“It is only right for other countries to respect ownership of the sacred treasures, artifacts and other items belonging to Native Americans,” U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said Thursday.

Cole and Haaland are among sponsors of the legislation in the House. Heinrich and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, have introduced a Senate version.

Lujan, who is the assistant House speaker, said he was confident the bipartisan legislation would pass.

U.S. law prohibits the trafficking of certain items domestically but does not explicitly ban dealers from exporting them, according to lawmakers.

Collectors have expressed concern that the legislative efforts hurt the market for tribal artifacts.