A program of federal grants assists in the repatriation process and the Secretary of the Interior may assess civil penalties on museums that fail to comply.

NAGPRA also establishes procedures for the inadvertent discovery or planned excavation of Native American cultural items on federal or tribal lands.

"[2] The intent of the NAGPRA legislation is to address long-standing claims by federally recognized tribes for the return of human remains and cultural objects unlawfully obtained from pre-contact, post-contact, former, and current Native American homelands.

Interpretation of human and Indigenous rights, prehistoric presence, cultural affiliation with antiquities, and the return of remains and objects can be controversial and contested.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act is a law that establishes the ownership of cultural items excavated or discovered on federal or tribal land after November 16, 1990.

Under the inadvertent discovery and planned excavation component of the act and regulations, if federal officials anticipate that activities on federal and tribal lands after November 16, 1990 might have an effect on American Indian burials—or if burials are discovered during such activities—they must consult with potential lineal descendants or American Indian tribal officials as part of their compliance responsibilities.

Under the act, funerary objects are considered "associated" if they were buried as part of a burial ceremony with a set of human remains still in possession of the federal agency or other institution.

"Unassociated" funerary objects are artifacts where human remains were not initially collected by—or were subsequently destroyed, lost, or no longer in possession of—the agency or institution.

In many cases,[example needed] NAGPRA helped stimulate interactions of archaeologists and museum professionals with Native Americans that were felt to be constructive by all parties.

[9] Residential and commercial development was a driving force in the desecration of many Native American burial sites, particularly in the 20th century with the expansion of suburbs and urban sprawl.

For example, in Wana the Bear v. Community Construction (1982), two-hundred Miwok ancestral remains were bulldozed in the development of a residential area in Stockton, California.

A descendant of the people, Wana the Bear, attempted to prevent further desecration by arguing that the site should continue to be protected as a cemetery.

The California Courts of Appeal sided with the construction company, which finished in its destruction of the burial grounds for residential development.

Emboldened by her success, Pearson went on to lobby national leaders, and her efforts, combined with the work of many other activists, led to the creation of NAGPRA.

[14] The 1987 looting of a 500-year-old burial mound at the Slack Farm in Kentucky, in which human remains were tossed to the side while relics were stolen, made national news and helped to galvanize popular support for protection of Native American graves.

[15][16] Likewise, several protests at the Dickson Mounds site in Illinois, where numerous Indian skeletons were exposed on display, also increased national awareness of the issue.

[18] The issue has repeatedly stalled archaeological investigations, such as in the case of the Spirit Cave mummy; fears have been voiced that an anti-scientific sentiment could well have permeated politics to an extent that scientists might find their work to be continuously barred by Native Americans rights activists.

[20][21] The federally recognized Umatilla, Colville, Yakima, and Nez Perce tribes had each claimed Kennewick Man as their ancestor, and sought permission to rebury him.

[23] Anthropologists wanted to preserve and study the remains, however, steps had already been taken to repatriate the Kennewick Man given that he was discovered on federal lands.

A lawsuit was filed by Douglas Owsley and Robson Bonnichsen, along with other notable anthropologists, in the hopes of preventing the repatriation of the skeleton.

In September 2016, the U.S. House and Senate passed legislation to return the ancient bones to a coalition of Columbia Basin tribes for reburial according to their traditions.

[26][27] Institutions with non-repatriated remains: Cal NAGPRA (Assembly Bill (978) is an act created by the state of California which was signed into law in 2001.

The act was created to implement the same repatriation expectations for state-funded institutions, museums, repositories, or collections as those federally supported through NAGPRA.

Although difficult to track, the scholar Phyllis Messenger notes that some antiquities traders have written articles denouncing the agreements, which suggests that it is reducing items sold to them.

In contrast to peoples in other areas, some local Inuit thought that the burial was more desired by the Christian representatives of the museum, and that the remains could have just as appropriately been kept in New York.