Title 25IndiansRelease 119-73not60

§231 Enforcement of State Laws Affecting Health and Education; Entry of State Employees on Indian Lands

Title 25 › Chapter 6— GOVERNMENT OF INDIAN COUNTRY AND RESERVATIONS › Subchapter I— GENERALLY › § 231

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior must allow State agents, under rules he sets, to enter Indian tribal lands to check health and school conditions and to enforce sanitation and quarantine. States can only apply compulsory‑school penalties to tribal members if the tribe’s governing body agrees by resolution.

Full Legal Text

Title 25, §231

Indians — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Secretary of the Interior, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, shall permit the agents and employees of any State to enter upon Indian tribal lands, reservations, or allotments therein (1) for the purpose of making inspection of health and educational conditions and enforcing sanitation and quarantine regulations or (2) to enforce the penalties of State compulsory school attendance laws against Indian children, and parents, or other persons in loco parentis except that this subparagraph (2) shall not apply to Indians of any tribe in which a duly constituted governing body exists until such body has adopted a resolution consenting to such application.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1946—Act Aug. 9, 1946, permitted proper State officers to invoke penalties of State compulsory school attendance against Indian children, their parents, or other persons in loco parentis.

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions

For

Transfer of Functions

of other officers, employees, and agencies of Department of the Interior, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of the Interior, with power to delegate, see Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1950, §§ 1, 2, eff. May 24, 1950, 15 F.R. 3174, 64 Stat. 1262, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

25 U.S.C. § 231

Title 25Indians

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60