Two days after a baby was born to a Miccosukee mother and a white father, police detectives arrived at Baptist Hospital in Kendall, Fla., with a court order to remove the baby from the new parents, according to an article on the Miami Herald website.
The order was signed by a tribal court judge on a reservation 32 miles away. The cops were from the Miccosukee police force, a department whose jurisdiction covers mainly the reservation and properties owned by the tribe.
The parents filed complaints with Miami-Dade police, state prosecutors and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. They said the tribal court order was a sham, concocted by the baby’s angry maternal grandmother, who did not want a white father to be a part of the child’s life.
What happened at the hospital — and whether Miccosukee police, accompanied by hospital security personnel, acted lawfully is now under review by state authorities. Miami-Dade detectives also have begun an investigation.
A hospital spokesperson stressed that Miami-Dade police officers also accompanied tribal police to “enforce a court order” that day. “We obeyed law enforcement. It is our hospital’s policy to cooperate with Miami-Dade law enforcement as they enforce court orders,” the statement said.
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