Daines' bill seeks to streamline U.S.-Canada border crossings for tribal members

Enrolled tribal members may soon be able to freely cross the U.S.-Canada border as several federal representatives call for the repeal of a little-known federal law centered around the controversial concept of blood quantum.

In 1794, the Jay Treaty cemented the right of indigenous people to freely cross the border between the United States and Canada, but an oft-overshadowed section of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 introduced new conditions for citizens looking to exercise that right, including that they “possess at least 50 per centum of blood of the American Indian race.”

Legislation sponsored by U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, aims to dismantle that requirement in favor of a more lenient system that relies on proof of tribal citizenship. Daines joined a bipartisan coa