Sioux descendants on Monday said they're filing a lawsuit against the United States for federal recognition of their tribe, and for monetary damages over land that their attorney said was fraudulently dispossessed.

Tom Smith, a Mdwokaton Dakota lineal descendant, said on Indigenous Peoples' Day that the lawsuit asks for the Sioux half-breed tribe and its lineal descendants to be federally recognized.

"This federal recognition will restore and preserve the Dakota identity of which these lineal descendants have been long deprived," Smith said.

Attorney Erick Kaardal, who is representing the group filing the lawsuit, said they're also asking for monetary damages over 500 square miles of land, once known as the Lake Pepin Reservation, which he said was seized through deception, manipulation

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