An Indian Health Service center and Bureau of Indian Affairs location in Elko are the latest targets of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts to cut federal spending.
Known as DOGE, the department with ties to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has spent the first weeks of the second Trump administration with the goal of trimming the federal budget. A Social Security auxiliary office in Las Vegas is among those impending closures, and Nevada federal employees have also been terminated.
Next on the list may be two offices that provide tribal services in Elko.
DOGE’s website lists an Indian Health Services location in Elko and a Bureau of and Indian Affairs office as subjects to “termination via Mass Mod.” It estimates the cuts would provide over $405,000 in combined savings.
A spokesperson for the Bureau of Indian Affairs said in a statement that its Elko location remains open but will be scheduled to close. The agency declined to give a timeline, though a document of offices affected by the General Services Administration’s office closures lists Aug. 31 as the planned termination date.
“Indian Affairs offices remain open and continue to provide services,” spokesman Joshua Barnett said. “The Department of the Interior is working with GSA to ensure facilities will be available for the continued delivery of BIA services.”
The Indian Health Service didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment Monday and Tuesday. Its Elko Service Unit provides primary care to over 11,000 patients from four Native colonies and three reservations: Duckwater, Ely and Goshute, according to its website.
Closing the health services location in Elko would mean tribal members would lose access to health care, said Leah Brady, chairperson of the Elko Band Council of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone Indians of Nevada. Closing the location would break a treaty the U.S. government signed promising to provide health care.
“By cutting these programs, they’re not fulfilling the obligation to the tribe,” Brady said.
The BIA handles tribal businesses and serves as the government consultations that tribes go through in order to work with the U.S. government, while the IHS clinic is the primary source of health care not just for the 1,600-member Elko tribe, but for Northern Nevada tribes as a whole.
Brady said the Indian Health Services center’s closure is up in the air.
“There’s just an uncertainty,” Brady said.
When reached by phone, Brian Gale, the Elko County Commissioner who is the liaison to the local tribes, said he hadn’t heard of the closures.
Republican Nevada legislators who represent Elko did not return requests for comment Tuesday morning. Neither did the Elko mayor’s office.
The White House deferred to the General Services Administration to comment on the decision, but it did not respond as of Tuesday.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com and Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah and @AlanHalaly on X.