Thousands of protesters at Standing Rock are stuck at their camp site as a blizzard continues in North Dakota.

Though hundreds of cars poured into Oceti Sakowin camp Sunday and Monday following the decision of the Army Corps of engineers to deny easement of their land for the building of the North Dakota Access Pipeline, security at the camp has not let anyone leave citing safety concerns. The snow began Monday.

The majority of interstate 94, which runs across the entire state, has been closed, and the North Dakota department of transportation issued a “no travel” advisory for the majority of state highways, including all routes to and from the Standing Rock reservation.

Since yesterday, however, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe has called on protesters to go home, despite the possibility that President-elect Donald Trump could reverse the decision in January.

“If the new president comes in and tries to reverse it, nothing is going to happen [for a while],” Archambault told radio station KFGO out of Fargo. “It’s going to take time, they have to understand that. And it’s an opportunity for them to go home. It’s an opportunity for them to spend this winter, and if they celebrate holidays, to spend the holidays with their families.”

Trump spokesman Jason Miller told a transition team news briefing Monday that they “support construction” of the pipeline and would “review the full situation” when they are in office.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied Sunday an easement for the highly controversial $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline, the subject of months of protest by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and “water protectors” who have come to support them. The tribe contends the project would affect its drinking water supply and destroy its sacred sites.
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