Washington DC - Native tribes and students have joined together to sue the Trump administration over cuts made to staffing at the only two federally run colleges for Indigenous Peoples.

The lawsuit comes after Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cut nearly a quarter of staff members at Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU) in Lawrence, Kansas, and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

HINU and SIPI are the only two federally-funded colleges in the US for Native students.

Layoffs impacted critical personnel at the colleges, including instructors, and security and maintenance workers, which students and tribal groups say have lowered the quality of education.

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Since the cuts, the New York Times reports that conditions on campus have dramatically worsened, including undrinkable brown water, dorms overrun with uncollected garbage, and frequent power outages.

"Unfortunately, these firings were done without preparation and without regard to the health and safety of the students, and that is a continuation of a history of neglect and disrespect," said Jacqueline De León, an attorney representing the tribes and students.

The lawsuit was filed against the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Office of Indian Education Programs by the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), representing multiple tribal nations and five students from the two colleges.

"These cuts threaten Native students' education & violate Tribal consultation rights. We will fight this in court," NARF said in a post on Bluesky.