WASHINGTON - Indian tribes face long odds in winning federal approval for casinos in the Catskills or other locations that are hundreds of miles away from their reservations, the Bush administration told Congress Wednesday.

Defending the decision to reject 22 such off-reservation casino applications around the country, officials further angered tribal leaders who told the House Resources Committee that the government is trying to force Indians to stay on reservations with high unemployment and few opportunities.

“This is paternalistic and oppressive,” said Hazel Hindsley, chairwoman of the St. Croix Chippewa of Wisconsin, which had sought federal approval for a casino project about 330 miles from their two reservations. That effort is now stuck in litigation.

Government officials wrote to 11 other tribes in January rejecting their applications on the grounds a far-flung casino could diminish the population actually living on the reservation. In New York, the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe had long sought approval to build a $600 million casino in the Catskill Mountains, several hundred miles south of their reservation.