CNN —President Joe Biden is expected to issue an apology to the Native American community for the federal government’s role in the abusive Indian boarding schools that forced Native American children to assimilate over a 150-year period, two sources familiar with the plans said. “The federally-run Indian boarding school system was designed to assimilate Native Americans by destroying Native culture, language and identity through harsh militaristic and assimilationist methods,” the White House said Thursday. In 2021, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary, commissioned the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative to review the impact of the federal boarding school policies. The department issued a final report this summer confirming at least 973 Native American children died while attending these federal boarding schools. At least 18,000 children were taken from their families and forced to attend more than 400 Indian boarding schools across 37 states or then-territories between 1819 and 1969.

---

Persons: Joe Biden, “, ” Biden, Biden, Deb Haaland, –, ” Haaland, Harris, Stephen Lewis, ” Lewis, Lewis, Whitney Gravelle, Rodney Butler, Gena Kakkak, Jill Biden, Kamala Harris ’, Donald Trump Organizations: CNN, Indian Nations, Gila Crossing Community School, Washington Post, Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, Department, Biden, Bay Mills Indian Community, Pequot Tribal, Air Force, White, American, Plan Locations: Gila, Phoenix, Indian, American, Bay Mills, Menominee, Arizona