[Senate Hearing 117-115]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 117-115
S. 1364, H.R. 1975, H.R. 2088, AND H.R. 4881
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
NOVEMBER 17, 2021
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Indian Affairs
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS
BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii, Chairman
LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska, Vice Chairman
MARIA CANTWELL, Washington JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota
JON TESTER, Montana JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma
CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada STEVE DAINES, Montana
TINA SMITH, Minnesota MIKE ROUNDS, South Dakota
BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico JERRY MORAN, Kansas
Jennifer Romero, Majority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
K. Williams, Minority Staff Director and General Counsel
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Hearing held on November 17, 2021................................ 1
Statement of Senator Burr........................................ 2
Statement of Senator Murkowski................................... 2
Statement of Senator Schatz...................................... 1
Statement of Senator Tillis...................................... 5
Witnesses
Butterfield, Hon. G.K., U.S. Representative from North Carolina.. 6
Godwin, Jr., Hon. Harvey, Chairman, Lumbee Tribe of North
Carolina....................................................... 12
Prepared statement........................................... 14
Issa, Hon. Darrell, U.S. Representative from California.......... 6
Newland, Hon. Bryan Todd, Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs,
U.S. Department of the Interior................................ 8
Prepared statement........................................... 9
Smith, Hon. Robert, Chairman, Pala Band of Mission Indians....... 16
Prepared statement........................................... 17
Sneed, Hon. Richard, Principal Chief, Eastern Band of Cherokee
Indians........................................................ 18
Prepared statement........................................... 20
Yucupicio, Hon. Peter, Chairman, Pascua Yaqui Tribe.............. 21
Prepared statement........................................... 23
Appendix
Cooper, Hon. Roy, letter for the record.......................... 39
S. 1364, H.R. 1975, H.R. 2088, AND H.R. 4881
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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2021
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Indian Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:38 p.m. in room
628, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Brian Schatz,
Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BRIAN SCHATZ,
U.S. SENATOR FROM HAWAII
The Chairman. Good afternoon.
During today's legislative hearing, we will consider four
bills, S. 1364, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina Recognition
Act, H.R. 1975, the Pala Band of Mission Indians Land Transfer
Act of 2021, H.R. 2088, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Historic
Lands Reacquisition Act, and H.R. 4881, the Old Pascua
Community land Acquisition Act.
These bills represent two very important ways Congress and
honor and strengthen tribal sovereignty and self-governance,
extending Federal recognition, that is granting all rights,
privileges and protections the United States currently affords
to 574 recognized tribes, and taking land into trust to restore
tribal homelands. Both acts carry profound weight, and so
should not be undertaken lightly or without the full
consideration by this Committee.
We begin with S. 1364, a bill to extend Federal recognition
to the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, and clarify that the
tribe and its citizens are eligible for all services and
benefits the United States provides to federally recognized
Indian tribes. This legislation will also authorize the
Secretary of the Interior to take land into trust for the
tribe.
The Lumbee Tribe has long sought Federal recognition and is
one step closer to having secured House passages of H.R. 2758,
the identical companion bill to S. 1364.
Turning to the House-passed bills, H.R. 1975 would
authorize the Secretary of the Interior to take approximately
721 acres of land in San Diego County, California, into trust
for the benefit of the Pala Band of Mission Indians, empowering
the tribe to better steward their sacred sites and honor their
cultural history.
H.R. 2088 would place approximately 76 acres of Federal
land and 20 acres of permanent easements into trust for the
benefit of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The primary
use of these properties would support the tribe's ongoing
cultural, historic, and recreational activities.
Finally, H.R. 4881 would direct the Secretary of the
Interior to take approximately 30 acres of land known as Old
Pascua into trust for the benefit of the Pascua Yaqui Indian
Tribe.
Old Pascua is the oldest formally established area where
the Yaqui community lived before their formal reservation was
established. This land would allow the tribe to expand
governmental operations, create jobs, and further support
tribal housing, health care, and education.
Before I turn to Vice Chair Murkowski, I would like to
extend my welcome and thanks to the witnesses who also happen
to be members of the House and the Senate, for joining us
today. I look forward to your testimony and our discussion.
Vice Chair Murkowski?
STATEMENT OF HON. LISA MURKOWSKI,
U.S. SENATOR FROM ALASKA
Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
You have introduced all four of these bills very
thoroughly, so I won't repeat. I will state that all of these
bills have something in common: they acknowledge and affirm the
importance of the government-to-government relationship between
the United States and Indian tribes. It is through Federal
recognition of an Indian tribe that the government-to-
government relationship is acknowledged. That relationship
establishes the foundation for taking land into trust.
These kinds of actions by Congress have far-reaching
impacts, not just on the tribe and its membership, which can be
life-changing in terms of benefits and services, but also on
other Indian tribes, surrounding communities, and Federal,
State and local governments.
So I thank you. I want to say [phrase in Native tongue] for
holding today's hearing and providing the opportunity to hear
from Indian Country and our colleagues on these important
bills.
The Chairman. Joining us today, our first testifier is the
senior Senator from North Carolina, Senator Richard Burr.
STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD BURR,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH CAROLINA
Senator Burr. Chairman Schatz and Vice Chairman Murkowski,
Senator Hoeven, thank you on behalf of Senator Tillis and I for
the opportunity to come in and introduce our legislation to
take a wrong and make a right out of it.
To say the tribe has been here before would be an
understatement. The Lumbee people have been seeking Federal
recognition from Congress for over 130 years. This Committee
has been holding hearings on the Lumbee status since 1912.
Time and time again, the Lumbee have proven their case to
Congress. This Committee's files are full of testimony,
letters, reports, and other records which demonstrate beyond
any shadow of a doubt that the Lumbee Tribe is worthy of full
Federal recognition.
Over the last 33 years, 29 Lumbee recognition bills have
been introduced in the Congress, 15 by Democrats, 14 by
Republicans, showing just how bipartisan this effort has always
been. Today is the fifteenth Congressional hearing on Lumbee
recognition since 1988, and the seventh in this Committee. Over
that time, Congressional committees have approved Lumbee
recognition bills 13 times, including 7 by this Committee. The
House has passed Lumbee recognition bills six times, including
two overwhelming votes in the last 12 months.
I believe no other tribe in the Country has been subjected
to as much Congressional scrutiny over such an extended period
of time, or received as many repeated expressions of bipartisan
Congressional support as the Lumbee Tribe. Having said that, I
recognize some in the audience may not be as familiar with
Lumbee and their history as we are.
Since time immemorial, the Lumbee have called the present
day counties of Robeson, Scotland, Hoke, and Cumberland their
home. They have been a cohesive community in North Carolina for
centuries and they have developed unique tribal institutions
that have served their membership well in the face of
extraordinary adversity.
They have been teachers, farmers, doctors, small business
owners. Some have served as sheriff, clerks of court, State
legislators or judges. Many have protected our Nation in the
armed forces. Their contribution to their community, to the
State of North Carolina, to the Country, are innumerable.
Their commitment to education is unparalleled. In the late
1800s, the State authorized the tribe to round the State school
district for Lumbee children. The State also authorized an
advanced Indian school to train teachers for the Lumbee
schools. Although the State provided no money for construction,
the Lumbee built the school on their own. It has been in
operation continuously since then, and today it is the
University of North Carolina at Pembroke.
The State of North Carolina recognized the Lumbee Tribe in
1885. Three years later, the tribe began its quest for Federal
recognition. Over the next 50 years, they repeatedly petitioned
the Federal Government for assistance, but to no avail.
During the height of the shameful termination era, Congress
passed the Lumbee Act of 1956. This partial recognition
designated the Indians residing in Robeson and adjoining
counties of North Carolina as the Lumbee Indians of North
Carolina. But it blocked them from accessing Federal benefits
available to other federally recognized tribes. Nothing short
of discrimination.
To put this in context, four other tribes were terminated
by Congress in 1956. All have had their Federal recognitions
status restored. Only the Lumbee have yet to receive the full
recognition that they deserve.
The Lumbee Tribe is incredibly resilient. But decades of
discrimination have caused severe economic consequences.
Robeson County is one of the poorest counties in the State.
While the other 574 federally recognized tribes can use the
rights and services offered by the Federal Government to
improve their economic situations, because of the 1956 law, the
Lumbee cannot.
They are the only tribe in the Country in this situation,
and it is unjust and it is immoral. This is ample precedent for
correcting the injustice, but not the least of which is
legislation Congress passed in 1987 to fully recognize the
Tiwah Indians in Texas. Nineteen years prior, Congress had
passed a law modeled after the 1956 Lumbee Act which recognized
the Tiwah but prohibited them from accessing Federal services.
In the Tiwah's case, Congress corrected the inequity of the
initial decision. It is way past time for us to do the same for
the Lumbee.
Support for this action is broad and bipartisan. The House
version was introduced by Democrat colleagues, G.K.
Butterfield, David Price, Republican colleagues Dan Bishop and
Richard Hudson. The bill passed the House earlier this month
with 85 percent of members voting in favor. It also passed the
House overwhelmingly last Congress.
It is time for the Senate to do the same. North Carolina
Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, has written a letter urging
Congressional leaders to pass Lumbee recognition without delay.
I would ask the Committee to include a copy of that letter in
the record.
Similarly, both President Biden and President Trump have
publicly pledged their support for this legislation. I would
like to thank in advance Assistant Secretary Newland who
clearly and unequivocally reaffirms the Administration's
support of this in his testimony today.
Mr. Chairman, I pause here for a second because I think
some would say, with all the Lumbees have been through, that
they would just crawl in a hole and not play a role in the
communities they lived in. They did exactly the opposite.
Without the abilities, without the benefits of Federal
recognition, this is a tribe under Chairman Godwin's leadership
now that didn't let the lack of Federal recognition set them
back. They made sure their books were audited and transparent.
They went to HUD and they got more money than probably any
tribe in the Country ever has from HUD, even with recognition,
because they were a trusted partner.
When North Carolina was plagued with hurricane after
hurricane, flood after flood, and many of you remember that
several years ago, it was Chairman Godwin and the Lumbee
Indians that stood up and said to FEMA and to the American Red
Cross, you won't find a better partner than us. Starting with
the first tragedy through the end, now they are the first call
that the American Red Cross makes in southeastern North
Carolina, to the Lumbees, to preposition, because they know
they are the best source, logistically, to handle the
challenges that they are going to face at that end of the
State.
In summary, the time for excuses is over. The time for
action is now. It is time to finally do what should have been
done over 130 years ago. It is time for the Federal Government
to fully recognize the Lumbee Tribe.
I respectfully request the support of each one of you in
helping make this a reality.
I thank the Chair.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Burr.
We are now pleased to have our colleague, Senator Thom
Tillis of North Carolina, to provide his testimony. Please
proceed.
STATEMENT OF HON. THOM TILLIS,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH CAROLINA
Senator Tillis. Chairman Schatz, Ranking Member Murkowski,
and Governor Hoeven and Senator, thank you for having me here.
One of the beautiful things of following my senior Senator and
friend after comments like this is that I will just simply
associate myself with those comments rather than repeat them.
But I want to give you an idea of my involvement in those.
Back when I was Speaker of the House is when I first found,
really, I was aware of the Lumbee Tribe, but wasn't really
familiar with them in the way I became familiar. I went down
there. I saw a cultural center, I saw the work that they were
doing in the community. I learned their history. I learned that
they had been recognized in 1985 by the State, and they started
working on recognition in 1988.
I learned that they took it on themselves to educate their
children and make sure that their cultural heritage was
preserved. I learned that by Congressional action, decades
later, they denied them that privilege. They were not allowed
to teach their children anymore . I learned that their academic
performances suffered mightily as a result of that. I think you
will hear that in Chairman Godwin's comments a little bit later
on.
I learned that for 133 years, there was an odd thing going
on with the Lumbee that is unparalleled by any other tribe that
has tried to see recognition. I also learned that their
continued investment is what has produced one of the great
teaching institutions in our premier university system at the
University of North Carolina at Pembroke.
I think in the testimony you are going to hear from
Chairman Godwin today and from Dr. Hoxie, and previous
testimony from Professor Campisi, you are going to hear the
same thing. They have been in our State for hundreds of years.
They have maintained their cultural identity. They have lived
in lands that may have shrunk as others took property from
them, retreating to some of the swamps in Robeson County. But
they stayed there. They maintained their culture. They made the
investments, and they deserve to be recognized.
I should have to say, for the first three years of my
tenure here as a Senator, I did not sign onto the Lumbee
recognition bill. When I was called on by the chairman to say,
why are you doing that, I said, because I don't like making
promises that I can't keep. Until I can understand how we
create an environment where we can finally seek recognition, I
am not going to give you false hope.
What changed? President Trump supported their recognition.
President Biden supports their recognition. The Administration
is going to make a statement today to that effect. The Democrat
Governor of North Carolina supports their recognition. The
Republican-led House and Senate legislature supports their
recognition. The vast majority of people in North Carolina
support their recognition.
So I hope as we go through this process that you all will
understand the importance of this to the Lumbee people, to me
personally, and help us get their recognition done in this
Congress. Thank you.
The Chairman. Thank you very much, Senator Tillis.
Next, we have Congressman Butterfield from the First
District of North Carolina.
STATEMENT OF HON. G.K. BUTTERFIELD,
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM NORTH CAROLINA
Mr. Butterfield. Chairman Schatz, Vice Chair Murkowski,
thank you so much for the opportunity to address the Committee
today. It is a real honor for me to do so.
I would like to offer my unconditional support for the
Lumbee Recognition Act, which is S. 1364. Today's hearing
builds upon the tremendous momentum behind Congress finally
extending full Federal recognition to the Lumbee Tribe of North
Carolina. I think Senator Burr and Senator Tillis have very
ably explained to you the history of this matter, and explained
to you why it is so long overdue.
Two weeks ago, the House voted overwhelmingly, 357 to 59,
on a bipartisan basis to pass my bill that is identical to the
version of Senator Burr's bill which is before the Committee
today. Senators, the Congress has an opportunity to do the
right thing and fix an historic wrong by passing the Lumbee
Recognition Act. Our home State of North Carolina has
recognized the Lumbee since 1885. Congress recognized the
Lumbee in the 1950s, but refused to allow the tribe access to
federally funded services and benefits. What a tragedy. We are
so long overdue in delivering justice to the tribe.
The bill before you has tremendous bipartisan support.
Isn't that good? It has tremendous bipartisan support inside
and outside North Carolina, as demonstrated by the recent vote
in the House and President Biden's support for full Federal
recognition of the Lumbee. Now is the time to do the right
thing and to get this done.
Senators, the merits of the Lumbee claim for full Federal
recognition have long been accepted by our State. It has been
accepted by academia and even by the Federal Government. It is
long past time for Congress to give the Lumbee the respect they
deserve and to treat them, each of them, with the fundamental
fairness that has been withheld for so many years.
I urge you to support the Lumbee Recognition Act and stand
on the right side of history. I want to thank the Chair, I want
to thank the Vice Chair, thanks Senator Burr, Senator Tillis.
We are all great friends. We work together whenever we can.
This is an example of us working together.
Please pass this Act. I yield back.
The Chairman. Thank you very much, Congressman, for your
leadership on this issue and your brevity.
Next, we have Congressman Issa from the 50th District of
the State of California. Congressman Issa?
STATEMENT OF HON. DARRELL ISSA,
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM CALIFORNIA
Mr. Issa. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member
Murkowski, Governor.
H.R. 1975 is an interesting piece of legislation, because
like so many land in trust requests, it represents a rebirth of
a tribe who was denied all of its land centuries ago, and only
restored in the previous century. I want to thank tribal
Chairman Smith of being so understanding of the time it takes
to do this as we have gone through multiple Congresses, and
Congressman Ron Vargas who championed this previously.
The land in trust history for the Pala Tribe is an amazing
one. This land, this 721 acres, was taken from the tribe many
years ago. It was used and exploited as a quarry. For more than
two decades, it was intended to become a landfill on the edge
of the reservation.
In no small part because of the sensitivity of the
environment and the watershed, that never came to be. It fell
into bankruptcy and of course, had no support for the needed
repair and maintenance.
The tribe made the purchase with its own funds, and now
wants to gift this land in trust, effectively, to the Federal
Government. I always say it that way because we often
misunderstand that this land is already theirs. They have
already purchased it. And they purchased it with money that was
not a gift from the Federal Government, but from the hard-
earned work of the tribal members.
This bill has already passed the House overwhelmingly, and
comes to you as a bipartisan piece of legislation. But I think
more importantly, it is part of a process. This is the fifth
land in trust bill that I have brought through the process in
my 20 years. It is one of dozens that will be needed.
I represent, second only to the Vice Chairman, probably the
most number of tribes. I have 18 separate reservations within
my district. So just like the people of Alaska, the people of
Oklahoma, we have a large number of wrongs to make right. And
this is one of them.
Lastly, if we do not place this in trust, if this were to
fall back into other use, it would from an environmental
standpoint likely not be nearly as good for the people of San
Diego, for the watershed development that it is part of, and
the like. So it has both environmental and fairness issues.
So since you complimented the previous person on brevity, I
will seek to get the same compliment. I want to thank you for
your understanding and hopefully your quick approval. I yield
back, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Thank you very much, Congressman Issa, for
your leadership and your brevity.
[Laughter.]
The Chairman. We will now move to our second panel of
witnesses. We will give everybody a minute to get situated.
Turning to our second panel, we have five panelists: the
Honorable Bryan Newland, Assistant Secretary, Indian Affairs,
Department of Interior; the Honorable Harvey Godwin, Jr.,
Chairman, Lumbee Tribe, Pembroke, North Carolina; the Honorable
Robert Smith, Chairman, Pala Band of Mission Indians, Pala,
California; the Honorable Richard Sneed, Principal Chief,
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Cherokee, North Carolina; and
the Honorable Peter Yucupicio, Chairman of the Pascua Yaqui
Tribe in Tucson, Arizona.
I want to remind our witnesses that your full written
testimony will be made part of the official hearing record.
Please keep your statement to no more than five minutes, so
that members have time for questions.
We turn to Mr. Newland, in person, for your testimony.
STATEMENT OF HON. BRYAN TODD NEWLAND, ASSISTANT SECRETARY,
INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE
INTERIOR
Mr. Newland. Aanii, mino gigizheb. Good afternoon, Chairman
Schatz, Vice Chairman Murkowski, Senator Hoeven. Thank you for
having me back in front of the Committee. My name is Bryan
Newland, I serve as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at
the Department of the Interior. While I also would love to be
complimented for brevity, I have the privilege of speaking to
four bills. So I want to do them all justice.
I appreciate the opportunity to speak on those four pieces
of legislation, S. 1364, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina
Recognition Act, H.R. 1975, the Pala Band of Mission Bands
Lands Transfer Act, H.R. 2088, the Eastern Band of Cherokee
Historic Lands Reacquisition Act, and H.R. 4881, the Old Pascua
Community land Acquisition Act. I am here to express the
Department's support for all four of these bills.
When the United States recognizes a tribe as a sovereign
government, it establishes a formal government-to-government
relationship with that tribe. Acknowledgement of a tribe is a
solemn act. Through our Nation's history, both Congress and the
Executive Branch have exercised their powers under the
Constitution to recognize tribes and affirm the nation-to-
nation relationship.
Through the Lumbee Tribe Recognition Act, Congress and the
Executive Branch would act together to recognize the sovereign
status of the Lumbee Tribe. Given the unique course of dealings
between the United States and the Lumbee Tribe, this
legislation is an appropriate way to recognize the Lumbee
Tribe. For that reason, we support S. 1364.
As several members have explained, the Lumbee Tribe has
worked toward Federal recognition since 1888. While North
Carolina recognized the Lumbee people in 1885, the tribe faced
hurdles at the Federal level, complicated by their unique
history.
Congressional and departmental actions toward the Lumbee
have created confusion and caused the Lumbee's request for
Federal acknowledgement to languish for more than a century.
The department supports S. 1364, which will finally extend
Federal recognition to the Lumbee Tribe and make its members
eligible for services and benefits provided to all members of
federally recognized tribes.
The bill also authorizes Interior to take land into trust
for the tribe and temporarily grants the State of North
Carolina both civil and criminal jurisdiction on the tribe's
lands. This Administration understands the importance of
Federal acknowledgement, and we support the bill to codify the
government-to-government relationship between the United States
and the Lumbee people.
Additionally, the Biden Administration recognizes that
tribal trust lands provide the foundation for the exercise of
tribal sovereignty and self-determination. H.R. 1975, 2088, and
4881 align with the Department's goal to restore tribal
homelands by transferring land into trust for the Pala Band of
Mission Indians, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and the
Pascua Yaqui Tribe.
H.R. 1975 directs the Department to take 721 acres of land
located in San Diego County, California, into trust for the
Pala Band of Mission Indians and makes it part of their
reservation. This land includes Chokla, a mountain of great
cultural significance to the Pala Band and many tribes
throughout Southern California. Once in trust, the Pala Band
intends to preserve this land in its natural state.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Historic Lands Reacquisition
Act would take certain Tennessee Valley Authority lands into
trust for the benefit of the Eastern Band of Cherokee. H.R.
2088 would place approximately 76 acres of land and 20 acres of
permanent easements into trust for the Eastern Band. These
lands are part of the ancestral homelands of the Cherokee
people. Once in trust, these lands will be used primarily for
memorializing and interpreting the history and culture of
Cherokee people, as well as for recreational activities.
Finally, with respect to H.R. 4881, the Department approved
earlier this year again a compact between the Pascua Yaqui
Tribe and the State of Arizona. The compact identifies areas
within Arizona where the tribe may conduct gaming activities
and those activities are authorized under IGRA. The tribe and
the State agreed to them under their gaming compact.
In the context of H.R. 4881, the area where gaming is
authorized is referred to as the Compact Designated Area. It
includes a small area within the city of Tucson, Arizona. The
bill directs Interior to take land into trust within the
Compact Designated Area upon the tribe's request.
The Department supports each of these land into trust
bills, and our Administration under President Biden is
committed to restoring ancestral homelands to tribes, ensuring
tribe exercise economic self-determination on their homelands,
and assisting tribes in protecting and preserving sacred
places.
I want to say megwich, thank you, for the opportunity to
appear today before the Committee and provide the Department's
views on these bills. I am happy to answer any questions you
may have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Newland follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Bryan Todd Newland, Assistant Secretary--
Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior
Aanii (hello) and good afternoon Chairman Schatz, Vice Chairman
Murkowski, and members of the Committee. My name is Bryan Newland, and
I serve as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the U.S.
Department of the Interior (Department). Thank you for the opportunity
to present the Department's testimony in support of S. 1364--the Lumbee
Tribe of North Carolina Recognition Act, H.R. 1975--the Pala Band of
Mission Indians Land Transfer Act of 2021, H.R. 2088--the Eastern Band
of Cherokee Historic Lands Reacquisition Act, and H.R. 4881--the Old
Pascua Community Land Acquisition Act.
Introduction
Federal acknowledgment of an Indian tribe is the United States'
recognition of sovereignty in an American Indian or Alaska Native
tribal government. Tribal sovereignty is the right of self-governance
and self-determination as a political entity that pre-dates the
founding of the United States. Federal acknowledgment of tribal
sovereignty is the bedrock of the nation-to-nation relationship the
United States shares with the indigenous tribes, pueblos and villages
that have inhabited this country since time immemorial.
In the context of today's hearing, the Department appreciates the
opportunity to express support for and provide comment on S. 1364,
which provides federal acknowledgment for the Lumbee Tribe of North
Carolina.
Another important obligation of the Department is to assist tribes
with protecting and restoring their homelands by taking land into
trust. The Biden Administration recognizes that tribal trust lands
provide the foundation for the exercise of tribal sovereignty and self-
determination, and are essential to the ability of tribal governments
to provide for the health, safety, and welfare of their communities. To
that end, this Administration is fully committed to the restoration and
protection of tribal homelands. H.R. 1975, H.R. 2088, and H.R. 4881
align with the Department's goal to restore tribal homelands by
transferring land into trust for the Pala Band of Mission Indians, the
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe.
S. 1364, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina Recognition Act
The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina (Lumbee, Lumbee Tribe or Tribe)
has worked to obtain federal recognition since 1888. While the Lumbee
have been recognized by the State of North Carolina since 1885, they
have faced hurdles at the federal level with both legislation and the
administrative process. This has been complicated by the complex
history of the Lumbee; even the Department itself in the early 1930s
characterized the Lumbee with many different origins and names,
including the Croatan Indians, Siouan Indians, Cherokee Indians, and
Cheraw Indians. The one constant, however, has been that the Lumbee
have been known as Indians, namely the Indians of Robeson County.
By 1956, Congress officially designated the Indians then ``residing
in Robeson and adjoining counties of North Carolina'' as the ``Lumbee
Indians of North Carolina'' in the Act of June 7, 1956 (70 Stat. 254).
In doing so, Congress explicitly stated that the Act did not make the
Lumbee ``eligible for any services performed by the United States for
Indians because of their status as Indians, and none of the statutes of
the United States which affect Indians because of their status as
Indians shall be applicable to the Lumbee Indians.'' This language not
only made the Lumbee ineligible for certain services, but the language
was later interpreted by the Department to preclude the Lumbee from
being considered for federal acknowledgement under the administrative
process. While this position has since been reversed in recent years,
the Lumbee are certainly in a unique situation and have worked toward
federal acknowledgement for over 130 years.
The Administration supports this legislation. S. 1364 will once and
for all extend Federal recognition to the Lumbee Tribe of North
Carolina and make its members eligible for the same services and
benefits provided to all members of Federally recognized tribes. It
also allows any group of Indians in Robeson and adjoining counties in
North Carolina whose members are not enrolled in the Tribe to petition
for recognition under the administrative process. The bill authorizes
the Department to take land into trust for the benefit of the Tribe,
treating lands located within Robeson County as on reservation trust
acquisitions. Finally, S. 1364 grants the State of North Carolina
jurisdiction over all criminal offenses committed, and all civil
actions that arise, on North Carolina lands owned by, or held in trust
for, the Lumbee Tribe or any dependent Indian community of the Tribe
unless jurisdiction is transferred to the United States pursuant to an
agreement between the Tribe and the State.
H.R. 1975, the Pala Band of Mission Indians Land Transfer Act of 2021
H.R. 1975 directs the Secretary of the Interior to take
approximately 721 acres of land located in San Diego County, California
into trust for the benefit of the Pala Band of Mission Indians (Pala
Band) and makes the land part of the Pala Band's reservation. The land
is currently owned in fee by the Pala Band and is contiguous to their
reservation. H.R. 1975 prohibits gaming on the land under the Indian
Gaming Regulatory Act or any other federal law.
Importantly, the land includes Chokla, a mountain that is of great
sacred and cultural significance to the Pala Band and many tribes
throughout Southern California. The Pala Band purchased the land in
2016 in an effort to stop the construction of a landfill at the foot of
Chokla in Gregory Canyon. The land also includes the site of an
ancestral village, rock art paintings, cultural artifacts, and is home
to culturally important plants and animals. Once the land is in trust,
the Pala Band intends to preserve this sacred land in its natural
state.
The Department supports H.R. 1975. During our recent consultations
on the restoration of tribal homelands and the protection of sacred
sites and treaty rights, we continually heard from tribes regarding the
importance of restoring tribal homelands to protect sacred sites
located on those lands. This Administration recognizes the vital
importance of protecting and preserving tribal sacred sites for future
generations and we are committed to working with tribes on sacred sites
issues.
H.R. 2088, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Historic Lands Reacquisition
Act
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Historic Lands Reacquisition Act would
take certain federal lands managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority
(TVA) into trust for the benefit of the Eastern Band of Cherokee
Indians (Eastern Band). H.R. 2088 would place approximately 76.1 acres
of land, and 19.9 acres of permanent easements, into trust for the
Eastern Band.
The Eastern Band is one of three federally recognized Cherokee
tribes. The ancestral homeland of all three Cherokee tribes includes
substantial parts of seven eastern states, including Alabama, Georgia,
Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. In
1979, the construction of the Tellico Dam by the TVA caused large areas
of Cherokee ancestral lands along the Little Tennessee River to be
flooded. Although the Eastern Band opposed the construction of the
Tellico Dam, the Eastern Band and the TVA were able to work together to
cooperatively manage impacted areas that were of historic significance
to the Cherokee people.
Today, the Eastern Band manages most of the properties subject to
this bill under permanent easements granted in the mid-1980s. H.R. 2088
would formalize the Eastern Band's stewardship of this property by
permanently transferring these parcels to be held in trust by the
Department on behalf of the Eastern Band.
If enacted, the lands subject to this bill will be used principally
for memorializing and interpreting the history and culture of Cherokee
Indians and recreational activities, to include: a birthplace memorial
and museum for the eminent Cherokee leader, Sequoyah; memorials to
Chota and Tanasi as former capitals of the Cherokees; and a memorial
and place of reinternment for the remains of Eastern Band Cherokee and
other Cherokee Indians.
The Department supports H.R. 2088 which aligns with the Biden
Administration's commitment to restoration of homelands to federally
recognized tribes. The Eastern Band will have greater ability to honor
and cherish their history and traditions in Monroe County, Tennessee
and the property transferred under this bill would honor the historic
and cultural significance of this area to Cherokee citizens nationwide.
H.R. 4881, the Old Pascua Community Land Acquisition Act
The Pascua Yaqui Tribe (Tribe) is located in Pima County, Arizona.
The Tribe currently possesses a combination of lands held in trust by
the United States and lands it purchased in fee. On May 24, 2021, the
Department approved the Pascua Yaqui Tribe-State of Arizona Amended and
Restated Compact (Compact). One of the core functions of the Compact is
to identify the specific areas and regions within the State wherein the
Tribe may conduct gaming activities. Such activities are authorized
under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and, as part of the Compact
negotiation, agreed to by both the Tribe and the State of Arizona. In
the context of H.R. 4881, the specific areas where gaming is authorized
is referred to as the ``Compact Designated Area'' which includes the
area south of West Grant Road, east of Interstate 10, north of West
Calle Adelanto, and west of North 15th Avenue in the City of Tucson,
Arizona.
H.R. 4881 directs the Secretary of the Interior to take land into
trust within the ``Compact-Designated Area'' at the request of the
Pascua Yaqui Tribe. The Compact Designated Area includes Old Pascua, an
ancestral community of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe at which the Tribe
conducts many sacred rituals. Under H.R. 4881, any of the lands placed
into trust shall be a part of the Pascua Yaqui Reservation, shall be
deemed to have been acquired into trust on September 18, 1978, and
shall be administered in accordance with the laws and regulations
generally applicable to lands held in trust by the United States for an
Indian tribe.
The Department supports H.R. 4881. A critical component of the
Biden Administration's commitment to restoring tribal homelands is
ensuring that tribes may pursue economic self-determination on their
lands. H.R. 4881 is squarely in line with this commitment as it
provides the Pascua Yaqui Tribe the opportunity to grow its tribal
economy and to contribute to community and regional economic
development within the greater Tucson region.
Conclusion
Restoring tribal homelands is a top priority for the Biden
Administration and the Department is committed to ensuring all
federally recognized tribes have a land base over which they can
exercise their sovereign authority and provide for their citizens. We
also recognize the importance of Federal acknowledgement for tribes and
appreciate the opportunity for this Administration to publicly state
its full support for the Federal recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of
North Carolina.
Thank you again for the opportunity to appear before this Committee
to provide the Department's views on and support for S. 1364, H.R.
1975, H.R. 2088, and H.R. 4881. We look forward to continuing to work
with the Committee in support of federal recognition and land into
trust efforts.
The Chairman. Thank you very much, Mr. Newland.
Next, we have the Honorable Harvey Godwin, Jr., the
Chairman of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.
STATEMENT OF HON. HARVEY GODWIN, JR., CHAIRMAN, LUMBEE TRIBE OF
NORTH CAROLINA
Mr. Godwin. Chairman Schatz and Vice Chair Murkowski, and
members of the Committee, I am Harvey Godwin, Jr., Chairman of
the Lumbee Tribe. We are deeply grateful today from the Lumbee
people, and thank you and this Committee for hearing our bill
today.
It is also with deepest gratitude and respect for my good
friends, Senator Richard Burr and Senator Thom Tillis, for all
the great work they have done in supporting our recognition
efforts over the last few years.
The Lumbee Tribe is also blessed to have the support of
North Carolina's Congressional delegation. I would also like to
thank our good friend, Representative G.K. Butterfield, for
introducing our bill twice in less than 12 months and getting
passage through the House.
I would also like to thank cosponsors Representative Dan
Bishop and Richard Burr who represent our tribal territory, and
the other members of the North Carolina delegation.
I would also like to say that you have our written support,
we have written support of federally recognized tribes and
local communities. I would ask your permission to place these
letters of endorsement into the record today.
The Chairman. Without objection.
Mr. Godwin. Thank you.
I know that you have our lengthy, comprehensive written
document and 70 supporting documents in hand. I want to thank
you for allowing me to come in person today, or virtually, as
in-person as we can be in these times. I am sitting here in the
Lumbee Tribal Complex in Pembroke, North Carolina, on a
beautiful autumn day that God has given us.
I would like to thank Assistant Secretary Newland for this
historic support from the DOI for our legislation today. Very
historic, thank you.
I love my Lumbee people, and I am finishing my second term
and I am terming out, by the Lumbee Constitution. I presented
over the last six years to four different committees on full
recognition for the Lumbee people. It is any Lumbee tribal
chairman's duty to preserve and protect the Lumbee way of life.
The Lumbee way of life is exemplified by traditional core
values. Four of these core values are our belief in God, value
of an education, as you have already heard, our protection of
our identity and culture, and our connection to the land. My
grandparents, like my parents, went to schools and churches in
the communities that they lived in, communities like Union
Chapel, Saddletree, Prospect, and also Deep Branch, among many
others. This has always been and still is Indian Country. It is
Lumbee Country.
We also are well-known across the State of North Carolina,
as you have already heard. We also would like to thank Governor
Roy Cooper and the leadership of the North Carolina General
Assembly for their support of full and fair recognition of the
Lumbee people over the years.
We have a strong government-to-government relationship with
the State of North Carolina. We are a distinct Indian community
and we are unique, we are a very unique people. We observe and
protect our own history and our own heritage.
Our ancestors, including my great-grandfathers, Winnie
[phonetically] Godwin and William Carville Jacobs, were 2 of 44
men who petitioned Congress for full and fair recognition in
1888. The reason they did this was to strengthen their ability
to protect and preserve the communities in which they lived,
both socially and culturally.
Although we have been seeking fair recognition since 1888,
Congress actually caused an additional harm in 1956 when it
passed the Lumbee Act. In that bill, the Lumbee were both
recognized and terminated in the same language on the same day.
The termination era was a significant time in our history, when
the U.S. had bad dealings with tribal governments. Most tribes
terminated during that era have been recognized since then.
There are only two other tribes that have suffered the
simultaneous recognition and termination at the same time, and
they both have achieved full and fair recognition through
legislation since that time.
Yet the Lumbee remain afflicted by this termination era
policy. As a direct result of the 1956 Act, we continue to be
treated by the Federal Government as Indians who just somehow
don't count. There is a saying that I have heard for years,
there are federally recognized tribes and State recognized
tribes, and then there is the Lumbee. But we know who we are.
The State of North Carolina has known for 130 years who we are.
It is time for the Federal Government to acknowledge who we
are. It is time for Congress to undo the harm that it did in
1956.
So I am here today as the 19th tribal leader of the Lumbee
Tribe, and I am before you petitioning once again to urge
Congress to finally put an end to this injustice and to pass
Lumbee Bill 1364. The Lumbee Tribe is a sovereign nation, and
we ask Congress to treat us with the dignity and respect that
we have earned, not that has been given to us, but that we have
earned. Today is the day, and now is the time when we can make
it right for all times coming forward.
I thank you for listening to my words today, and I will
accept any questions that you may have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Godwin follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Harvey Godwin, Jr., Chairman, Lumbee Tribe
of North Carolina
Introduction
Chairman Schatz and Vice-Chairman Murkowski, and members of the
Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today in
support of the Lumbee Recognition Act (S.1364).
I am the twice-elected Chairman of the Lumbee Tribe of North
Carolina. I am the descendant of Quinny Godwin and William Corvel
Jacobs, two of the forty-four tribal leaders who signed a petition to
the Congress first seeking federal recognition of our people in 1888. I
am sorry to say that 133 years later, I am the nineteenth Lumbee tribal
leader to come before Congress, asking yet again for justice and equal
treatment for our people.
I would like to express my people's deep appreciation to our long-
time champions on this bill, Senator Burr and Senator Tillis of North
Carolina. Both Senators have labored tirelessly on our behalf and we
are humbled and grateful for their efforts. Indeed, Senator Burr has
sponsored or cosponsored Lumbee recognition legislation in every
Congress since the 108th Congress.
I would be remiss if I did not also express our deep gratitude to
other members of the North Carolina delegation as well. The House of
Representatives passed the Lumbee Recognition Act (H.R.2758) on a
bipartisan vote of 357 to 59. This would not have been possible without
our long-time champion Congressman G.K. Butterfield, cosponsor
Congressman Dan Bishop, and six other members of the North Carolina
congressional delegation, including Congressmen Richard Hudson, David
Price, Deborah Ross, Ted Budd, David Rouzer, and Gregory Murphy. We are
also deeply honored to have the support of our Governor, the Honorable
Roy Cooper, and the North Carolina State Legislature. Lumbee history
will record all of these good people and champions of finally bringing
justice to the Lumbee people. An identical bill was passed by the House
last year, and we are proud that Congressman Don Young--the Dean of the
House--and veteran Congresswoman Betty McCollum were cosponsors of that
bill.
Most importantly, I want to underscore today our gratitude to the
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Over the last twenty years, this
Committee has favorably reported Lumbee recognition legislation to the
Senate Floor no less than five times. See S. Rep. 112-200 (on S.1218),
Aug. 2, 2012; S. Rep. 111-116 (on S.1735), Jan. 20, 2010; S. Rep. 110-
409 (on H.R.65), Jul. 8, 2008; S. Rep. 109-334 (on S.660), Sept. 13,
2006; and S. Rep. 108-213 (on S.420), Nov. 25, 2003. In doing so, this
Committee has also shown its commitment to bringing justice to our
Tribe, and we thank you for the taking up our cause once again today.
The time has come for the Congress to bring this long history to an end
by enacting our bill and, finally, bringing the Lumbee Tribe into the
family of federally-recognized tribes where it belongs.
About the Lumbee People
Home for the Lumbee is Robeson County, North Carolina, and the
three counties surrounding it--Scotland, Hoke and Cumberland Counties.
This area has been our homeland since time immemorial. As non-Indians
began to settle and overtake our traditional homelands, we took refuge
in the swamps of Robeson County to find protection, and we have been
there ever since. No matter where a Lumbee goes or moves, home will
always be in our Tribal Territory.
Our kinship ties to each other define our people. We have just over
60,000 enrolled tribal members. We maintain close ties and tend to live
in communities, what you might call neighborhoods, that are made up
almost entirely of Lumbee people. Because of the geographic
concentration of our people, we attend schools and churches that are
mostly Lumbee and usually marry other Lumbees. We have historic Lumbee
institutions in our community that reinforce these community ties. For
example, we have church conferences that consist solely of Lumbee
churches, such as the Burnt Swamp Baptist Association, which was formed
around the turn of the twentieth century. There is also a separate
Methodist conference for our Indian churches. These uniquely Lumbee
institutions are well known throughout southeastern North Carolina and,
indeed, throughout Indian country.
We also survived despite the federal government's failure to extend
the full measure of recognition to us by focusing on education as a
core value of the Lumbee people. Shortly after the Tribe was recognized
by the State of North Carolina in 1885, the State authorized the Tribe
to run the State's school district for our Lumbee children. Tribal
leaders controlled it completely and enrollment was limited to Lumbee
children only. Two years later, we opened a special advanced Indian
school known as a ``normal school'' to train teachers for our Indian
school. Although the State provided no money for construction of
facilities, our people managed to pull together and construct an Indian
normal school. That Indian normal school has been continuously in
operation--and we are proud to say today it is the University of North
Carolina at Pembroke.
Full Federal Recognition is Long Overdue, and Should Be Granted by
Congress
The Lumbee people have been petitioning Congress for full federal
recognition since 1888 when we first requested that the federal
government--consistent with its federal trust obligation to Indian
tribes--provide us with federal assistance for our Indian schools.
Congress referred the request to the Department of the Interior, which
refused to help because it said there were ``too many'' of us and too
little money available, so no services would be provided to the Lumbee.
This would not be the last time that the Department of the Interior
would place protection of its budget above the welfare of the Lumbee
people.
Between 1888 and 1956, as many as a dozen bills were introduced in
Congress to extend full federal recognition to our Tribe following on
the heels of the State of North Carolina's own laws to recognize the
Tribe. In 1956--unfortunately for the Lumbee people--in the middle of
the termination era, Congress again took up and enacted one of these
bills, but at the insistence of the Department of the Interior,
Congress adopted an amended version that terminated the Tribe's
eligibility for federal services for no better reason than to excuse
Interior from having to use it budget to serve an additional Indian
population. As a result, Congress essentially terminated the Tribe just
as it recognized it.
When the House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing in the
116th Congress on H.R. 1964, a bill that is identical to the bill being
considered by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee today, it received
written testimony from Dr. Fred Hoxie relating to our Tribe's history
and the imperative of congressional action to confirm Lumbee's
recognition. I am attaching that testimony to my written statement here
and ask that it be included in this hearing's record.
Major Provisions of the Bill
The recognition bill before you, S.1364, would amend the 1956
Lumbee Act by repealing the offensive termination of services language
and extending full federal recognition to the Tribe. It also defines
the service area of the Tribe as Robeson, Cumberland, Hoke, and
Scotland Counties, North Carolina, our traditional territory and where
the overwhelming majority of our members reside today. For the purpose
of delivering those services, S.1364 directs the Secretaries of
Interior and Health and Human Services to develop a budget to meet the
Tribe's needs, in consultation with the Tribe. This will be done
following the verification of the Tribe's roll by the Secretary of the
Interior; S.1634 imposes a two-year deadline on the process, which is
triggered by the Tribe's submission of a digitized roll.
The bill also addresses two issues that are important to the Tribe.
First, the Secretary is authorized to place land into trust for the
Tribe under the Indian Reorganization Act. This will allow the Tribe to
finally acquire a land base, one on which the Tribe can fully exercise
its selfgoverning authority under federal law and provide for its
people. This provision is necessary to avoid the uncertainty created by
the Supreme Court's decision in Carcieri v. Salazar. Second, the bill
authorizes the State of North Carolina to exercise criminal and civil
jurisdiction over the Tribe's territory, just as other states have done
under Public Law 280. Importantly for the Tribe, it also authorizes the
transfer of this jurisdiction back to the United States, following an
agreement between the State and the Tribe to do so. These two
provisions are essential to allow the Tribe to fully exercise its
inherent powers of self-government.
Thus, passage of S. 1364 will rectify the injustice Congress
created in 1956 when it made the Lumbee people second class Indians. It
will put us on an equal footing with tribes that enjoy full federal
recognition. Congress has already done this for the only two other
tribes it put this position of being ``partly recognized and partly
terminated.'' Congress rightfully corrected its error and has fully
recognized these two other tribes, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona in
1978 and the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo of Texas in 1987. Congress is
overdue in doing the same for the Lumbee Tribe.
Continued Delay is Causing Continuing Harm
How many generations of Lumbee elders must we lose before the
federal government ceases to treat us as a second-class tribe? How many
generations of our children must grow up without enjoying the benefits
of a federally-protected homeland over which the Lumbee Tribe can
exercise true sovereignty and self-determination? How much longer will
we be deprived of the ability to engage in government-to-government
consultation of federal agency policies and decisionmaking that may
impact natural resources and cultural sites that require protection?
How much longer will our non-federal status hinder our ability to
access federal resources and to respond swiftly and comprehensively to
natural disasters like the storms that have devastated our tribal
community in the last three years? The long delay in extending full
federal recognition has real life consequences.
Without full federal recognition, we are unable to benefit from a
federally-protected reservation. We have no land on which to exercise
our fundamental right of self-determination and self-government, no
land on which we can exert our own jurisdiction, no land on which we
may exercise our sovereignty as a government. These limitations
profoundly impact our government's ability to improve the quality of
life for the Lumbee people, and to make decisions to determine our own
future.
Without full federal recognition, we cannot operate own schools and
make our own determination of how to best provide for our children. The
Tribe operated its own school system for its children for nearly one
hundred years, until a federal judge told us we could not do so because
we are not federally recognized. Our children have since not reached
the levels of achievement they had when we had control of our own
schools. We want to have that control returned to our people.
Without full federal recognition, we cannot plan for and protect
ourselves from natural disasters. Southeastern North Carolina is
subject to ever increasingly violent hurricanes. During my first term
as Chairman, two hurricanes overwhelmed our Tribal Territory--Hurricane
Matthew in 2016 and Hurricane Florence in 2018. Both devastated our
community, flooding homes, schools, churches, and work places.
Unfortunately, because of our current status, we are not eligible for
federal ``Imminent Threat Grant Funding'' for natural disaster
preparation--this aid is reserved only for fully federally recognized
tribes.
Conclusion
We are a proud sovereign people who have held on to our culture,
our traditions, and our community. We have maintained our integrity
through war and peace, through the brutal federal policies of removal,
assimilation and termination, through state segregation and through
federal neglect. We have won the friendship and respect of the non-
Indian community around us, of our nearby local governments, and of the
great State of North Carolina. The Lumbee Tribe and its members have
served in the United States military services with valor and
distinction. The Lumbee Tribe's long and proud history of self-
sufficiency and independence is too often discounted and disrespected
because we lack the stamp of approval of the United States as a fully
federally-recognized tribe.
It is high time that the United States exercise its responsibility
to put an end to the treatment of the Lumbee as a second-class tribe.
The pending legislation is the last of a long line of federal bills
over the course of more than a century that would extend full
recognition to the Lumbee Tribe. We have full faith in the Members of
this Committee to once again appreciate the importance of full federal
recognition for our Tribe and the role you can play in correcting this
historical injustice.
I thank you for your time today and look forward to answering any
questions you may have.
The testimony of Frederick E. Hoxie before U.S. House of
Representatives Natural Resources Committee Sub-Committee on
Indigenous Peoples of the United States on H.R. 1964, the
Lumbee Recognition Act of 2019 (December 4, 2019) has been
retained in the Committee files and can be found at:
https://naturalresources.house.gov/imo/media/doc/
Dr.%20Frederick%20Hoxie%20Testimony%2012.4.19%20IPS%
20hearing_Campisi%20Statement.pdf
The Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Next, we have the Honorable Robert Smith, the Chairman of
the Pala Band of Mission Indians in Pala, California.
STATEMENT OF HON. ROBERT SMITH, CHAIRMAN, PALA BAND OF MISSION
INDIANS
Mr. Smith. Good afternoon, Chairman Schatz and Vice Chair
Murkowski, honorable members of the Committee. My name is
Robert Smith, Chairman of the Pala Band of Mission Indians,
located in San Diego County. I have been elected chairman since
1989, and have been proud to serve the Cupeno and Luiseno
people of Pala for many years.
It is an honor to sit before you today on behalf of my Pala
people and ask for support of House Resolution 1975, sponsored
by Representative Darrell Issa. For nearly 30 years, since
before I became Pala's chairman, we fought to stop a proposed
landfill from being built in Gregory Canyon, immediately
adjacent to the Pala Reservation. The landfill would have
covered the slopes of one of our sacred mountains with garbage.
The mountain, Chokla, is the home of one of the First People,
the spirit Takwish.
To prevent this desecration, Pala ended up buying
approximately 700-plus acres of the proposed landfill property
in 2016. This was a great victory not just for Pala, but for
Indian people throughout Southern California who honor Takwish
and his many homes.
Because the land is so important to us, we want to bring it
into trust as a part of the Pala Reservation. It is part of the
Luiseno traditional landscape, and it is land that has been
occupied by Native peoples since time immemorial. The property
is contiguous to the Pala Reservation, and in addition to being
one of Takwish's sacred homes, it is also an ancestral village,
rock art paintings, and artifacts, as well as culturally
important plants and animals.
While Pala has taken preliminary steps towards pursuing the
fee to trust process through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, that
process that can take several years, which is why we asked
Congressman Issa to assist us via the legislative process. The
sooner our sacred land is in trust, the sooner we can protect
and preserve the site.
Pala has no desire nor intention to develop this land in
any way. Pala has a successful gaming operation already, so
there is no need for more land for this purpose. Even if there
were, the property is very steep and rugged and would be very
difficult to develop. And even more important, as already
stated: it is sacred to us. We will manage the land in its
natural state, and provide the traditional stewardship to the
sacred landscapes that Indian people have always maintained.
Putting the land into trust and making it a part of the
Pala Reservation will allow us to provide the protection that
the sacred Chokla deserves. Passing this bill is the most
efficient and reasonable way for us to achieve this result.
What we are asking for is very simple. This land needs the
protection that Federal trust status provides. H.R. 1975 passed
the House on a bipartisan vote of 397 to 25. Again, I ask for
your support so that the bill can advance to the Senate for
passage and help us protect our sacred lands.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Smith follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Robert Smith, Chairman, Pala Band of Mission
Indians
Chairman Schatz, Vice-Chairman Murkowski, and honorable members of
the Committee: My name is Robert Smith. I am the Chairman of the Pala
Band of Mission Indians, located in San Diego County, California. I
have been Pala's elected Chairman since 1989, and I am proud to have
represented the Cupeno and Luiseno people of Pala for these many years.
It is an honor to sit before you today on behalf of the Pala people and
ask for your support of House Resolution 1975, sponsored by
Representative Darrell Issa.
For nearly 30 years, since before I became Pala's chairman, we
fought to stop a proposed landfill from being built in Gregory Canyon,
immediately adjacent to the Pala Reservation. The landfill would have
covered the slopes of one of our sacred mountains with garbage. This
mountain, Chokla, is the home of one of the First People, the spirit
Takwish. To prevent this desecration, Pala ended up buying
approximately 700 acres of the proposed landfill property in 2016. This
was a great victory not just for Pala, but for Indian peoples
throughout Southern California who honor Takwish and his many homes.
Because this land is so important to us, we want to bring it into
trust as a part of the Pala Reservation. It is part of the Luiseno
traditional landscape, and it is land that has been occupied by Native
peoples since time immemorial. The property is contiguous with the Pala
Reservation, and in addition to being one of Takwish's sacred homes, it
is also the site of an ancestral village, rock art paintings, and
artifacts, as well as culturally important plants and animals. While
Pala has taken preliminary steps towards pursuing the fee to trust
process through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, that process that can
take several years, which is why we asked Congressman Issa to assist us
via the legislative process. The sooner our sacred land is in trust,
the sooner we can protect and preserve it.
Pala has no desire nor intention to develop this land in any way.
Pala has a successful gaming operation already, so there is no need for
more land for this purpose; and even if there were, the property is
very steep and rugged and would be very difficult to develop. And even
more important, as already stated: it is sacred to us. We will manage
the land in its natural state, and provide the traditional stewardship
to the sacred landscapes that Indian people have always maintained.
Putting the land into trust and making it a part of the Pala
Reservation will allow us to provide the protection that sacred Chokla
deserves. Passing this bill is the most efficient and reasonable way
for us to achieve this result.
What we are asking for is very simple. This land needs the
protection that federal trust status provides. HR 1975 passed the House
on a bipartisan vote of 397 to 25. I ask for your support so that the
bill can advance to the Senate for passage and help us protect our
sacred landscapes. Thank you.
The Chairman. Thank you very much.
Next, we have the Honorable Richard Sneed, Principal Chief,
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Cherokee, North Carolina.
STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD SNEED, PRINCIPAL CHIEF, EASTERN BAND
OF CHEROKEE INDIANS
Mr. Sneed. [Greeting in Native tongue.] Chairman Schatz,
Vice Chair Murkowski, thank you for the opportunity to provide
this testimony on behalf of the Eastern Band of Cherokee
Indians on H.R. 2088, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Historic
Lands Reacquisition Act. It is an honor for me to appear before
this Committee.
Since before the coming of Europeans to this continent, the
Cherokee have lived in the southeastern part of what is now the
United States, in the States of North Carolina, Tennessee,
South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, and Virginia. In
the same time since this Country was founded, the Cherokee have
faced unending threats to our very existence. The Cherokee
endured the Trail of Tears where more than 15,000 Cherokee
Indians were forcibly removed by the U.S. Army from their
ancestral homelands to the Indian Territory as part of the
Federal Government's American Indian Removal Policy. Thousands
died. The Cherokee came to call the event Nunahi-Duna-Dlo-Hilu-
I or Trail Where They Cried.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians are the descendants of
those Cherokees who resisted removal in the Great Smoky
Mountains and escaped the Trail of Tears or who were able to
return to their homeland in the Great Smoky Mountains after the
Trail of Tears. The Eastern Band today is a tribal nation
recognized by the United States as a sovereign with inherent
rights of self-government, like the several States and foreign
nations. We have a separate language and culture that makes us
different than any people group in the world.
Leadership of the Cherokee and the Cherokee people
themselves, with tenacity and determination, have fought to
ensure that our way of life, our beliefs, and our sovereignty
will survive. And we are still here today. We continue to fight
to protect our way of life, our sovereignty and our Cherokee
identity from any who would try to wrongfully claim it as their
own.
The Eastern Band Cherokee Historic Lands Reacquisition Act
would return about 76 acres of land back to us, key historic
sites that fell out of our ownership in tougher days. The
legislation also would grant two permanent easements over TVA
property to be held in trust for the Tribe for creating
recreational trails between the sites.
These properties commemorate and interpret historic people
like Sequoyah, towns such as the historic Cherokee capital at
Chota, and the culture of the Cherokee during the period from
the early 1700s through 1840, and are also associated with and
interpret the Trail of Tears. The properties are located in
Monroe County, Tennessee, near the town of Vonore and are
adjacent to Tellico Lake, the reservoir behind TVA's Tellico
Dam.
This bill celebrates not only a time in Cherokee history
when we lived in Tennessee, but also the return of the Cherokee
People as a modern, living people, with a living culture and
language, and traditions that have survived from ancient times,
back to Tennessee.
Like our relationship with the United States, relations
between the Cherokee People and the State of Tennessee have not
always been congenial. Our historic relationship with Tennessee
has been a troubled one, marked by Cherokee governance,
conflict, broken promises, and accommodation for Cherokee
survival.
When President Andrew Jackson, who fought side-by-side
Cherokees in the War of 1812, decided that we should not have
rights to our lands in the Southeast, we moved our base of
government from what is now Georgia right across the State line
into what is now Red Clay, Tennessee. Soon after, the historic
Cherokee Nation was forced to give up our lands.
The Eastern Band Cherokees found refuge in our aboriginal
territory in the State of North Carolina and the Great Smoky
Mountains from forced removal, and we remain in a small portion
of our original homelands. Through all of this, the Cherokee
people have persevered and even prospered.
Our Tribe has been committed to improving these lands
through the development of the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum. The
Friends of Sequoyah, which provides sponsorship of the museum,
has also worked to install historic markers adjacent to the
Tellico Reservoir and the museum staff provides continuing
maintenance of this property through the current TVA easement.
We have had an ongoing partnership with the TVA since the
construction of the Tellico Dam. It was the intention of the
original agreement to place this land into trust status.
Unfortunately, complications with the land into trust processes
at the time of the agreement made an easement the better option
for completing the Tellico project.
This legislation marks a new era of respect and
appreciation between the Cherokee People, the United States,
and the State of Tennessee. We welcome this new era and our
Tribe is committed to continuing to work toward improving our
respective sovereigns as friends and neighbors.
I believe these lands should be returned to our people for
the continued protection of important Cherokee historic sites.
Our tribe is committed to improving the educational resources
of the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum and to providing a means for
economic development for the local community. We will continue
our long-valued relationship with the TVA in order to maintain
the integrity of the Tellico Reservoir and to preserve the
resources of this area for our mutual benefit.
I thank you for the honor of the opportunity to testify in
support of this important bill.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Sneed follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Richard Sneed, Principal Chief, Eastern Band
of Cherokee Indians
Chairman Schatz and Vice Chairman Murkowski, thank you for the
opportunity to provide this testimony of behalf of the Eastern Band of
Cherokee Indians on H.R. 2088, the ``Eastern Band of Cherokee Historic
Lands Reacquisition Act.'' It is an honor for me to appear before this
Commitee.
Since before the coming of Europeans to this continent, the
Cherokee have lived in the southeastern part of what is now the United
States, in the states of North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina,
Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, and Virginia. In the time since this
country was founded, the Cherokee have faced unending threats to our
very existence. The Cherokee endured the Trail of Tears where more than
15,000 Cherokee Indians were forcibly removed by the U.S. Army from
their ancestral homelands to the Indian Territory as part of the
federal government's American Indian Removal Policy. Thousands died.
The Cherokee came to call the event Nunahi-Duna-Dlo-Hilu-I or Trail
Where They Cried.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians are the descendants of those
Cherokees who resisted removal in the Great Smoky Mountains and escaped
the Trail of Tears or who were able to return to their homeland in the
Smoky Mountains after the Trail of Tears. The Eastern Band today is a
Tribal Nation recognized by the United States as a sovereign with
inherent rights of self-government, like the several states and foreign
nations. We have a separate language and culture that makes us
different than any group of people in the world. Leadership of the
Cherokee and the Cherokee people themselves, with tenacity and
determination, have fought to ensure that our way of life, our beliefs,
and our sovereignty will survive. And we are still here today--and we
continue to fight to protect our way of life, our sovereignty and our
Cherokee identity from any who would try to wrongfully claim it as
their own.
The ``Eastern Band Cherokee Historic Lands Reacquisition Act''
would return about 76 acres of land back to us, key historic sites that
fell out of our ownership in tougher days. The legislation also would
grant two permanent easements over TVA property to be held in trust for
the Tribe for creating recreational trails between the sites. These
properties commemorate and interpret historic people like Sequoyah,
towns such as the historic Cherokee capital at Chota, and the culture
of the Cherokee during the period from the early 1700s through 1840,
and are also associated with and interpret the Trail of Tears. The
properties are located in Monroe County, Tennessee, near the town of
Vonore and are adjacent to Tellico Lake, the reservoir behind TVA's
Tellico Dam. This bill celebrates not only a time in Cherokee history
when we lived in Tennessee but also the return of the Cherokee People--
as a modern, living People, with a living culture and language, and
traditions that have survived from ancient times--back to Tennessee.
Like our relationship with the United States, relations between the
Cherokee People and the State of Tennessee have not always been
congenial. Our historic relationship with Tennessee has been a troubled
one, marked by Cherokee governance, conflict, broken promises, and
accommodation for Cherokee survival. When President Andrew Jackson, who
fought side-by-side Cherokees in the War of 1812, decided that we
should not have rights to our lands in the Southeast, we moved our base
of government from what is now Georgia right across the state line into
what is now Red Clay, Tennessee. Soon after, the historic Cherokee
Nation was forced to give up our lands. The Eastern Band Cherokees
found refuge in our aboriginal territory in the state of North Carolina
and the Great Smoky Mountains from forced removal, and we remain in a
small portion of our original home lands. Through all of this, the
Cherokee people have persevered and even prospered.
Our Tribe has been committed to improving these lands through the
development of the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum. The Friends of Sequoyah,
which provides sponsorship of the Museum, has also worked to install
historic markers adjacent to the Tellico Reservoir and the Museum staff
provides continuing maintenance of this property through the current
TVA easement. We have had an ongoing partnership with the TVA since the
construction of the Tellico Dam. It was the intention of the original
agreement to place this land into trust status. Unfortunately,
complications with the land into trust processes at the time of the
agreement made an easement the better option for completing the Tellico
project.
This legislation marks a new era of respect and appreciation
between the Cherokee People, the United States, and the State of
Tennessee. We welcome this new era and our Tribe is committed to
continuing to work toward improving our respective sovereigns as
friends and neighbors.
I believe these lands should be returned to our people for the
continued protection of important Cherokee historic sites. Our Tribe is
committed to improving the educational resources of the Sequoyah
Birthplace Museum and to providing a means for economic development for
the local community. We will continue our long-valued relationship with
the TVA in order to maintain the integrity of the Tellico Reservoir and
to preserve the resources of this area for our mutual benefit.
Thank you for the honor of the opportunity to testify in support of
this important bill.
The Chairman. Thank you very much. Next, we have the
Honorable Peter Yucupicio, Chairman of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe
in Tucson, Arizona.
STATEMENT OF HON. PETER YUCUPICIO, CHAIRMAN, PASCUA YAQUI TRIBE
Mr. Yucupicio. [Greeting in Native tongue.] Thank you.
Chairman and members of the Committee, permission of our
ancestors, permission of our Creator, permission of our tribal
council, our people, and the tribal leaders that are there
today.
My name is Peter Yucupicio, I am the Chairman of the Pascua
Yaqui Tribe. I am here today to ask you for your support to
pass H.R. 4881, the Old Pascua Community Land Acquisition Act,
which passed the House in an overwhelming vote, a testament to
the merits of the bipartisan bill. I am happy to report that
Senator Sinema also has introduced a companion bill in the
Senate for which we are appreciative.
With this Committee's support, we are hoping that the Old
Pascua Community Land Acquisition Act can be moved through the
Senate quickly. Under H.R. 4881, the Department of Interior
would take certain parcels of tribally owned fee land located
in the historic tribal community of Old Pascua into trust for
the benefit of the tribe. This legislation would protect one of
the most important cultural sites while also providing great
economic benefit for the tribe and for the surrounding
community in the form of millions of dollars of investment and
the creation of hundreds, if not thousands, of new jobs.
The legislation also permits a provision in our federally
approved compact with the State of Arizona, and is consistent
with our intergovernmental agreement with the City of Tucson.
Finally, it begins the fulfillment of Congressional promises to
support the expansion of the tribe's land base.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, numerous Yaqui
communities were established in and around Old Pascua. Since
1921, the Old Pascua cultural plaza and church, which has
served as the oldest formally established Yaqui community in
Tucson. For generations, the Yaquis have gathered at the Old
Pascua cultural plaza to hold ceremonies, including
processionals. The cultural plaza is owned by the Pascua Yaqui
Tribe and is on the National Register of Historic Places as a
traditional cultural property.
Protecting this land for all time by putting it into trust
status is of the upmost importance to the tribe. The tribe has
spent the last several years in extraordinarily successful
discussions with the State regarding a gaming compact that
expressly provided for the land at Old Pascua to be the five-
acre gaming facility.
The compact, which was entered into by the State and 20
Arizona tribes, then approved by the Federal Government,
expressly provides for the compact designated area, essentially
the land in Old Pascua, where the tribe can establish a gaming
property after Congress approves taking the land into trust. In
parallel with the negotiation of the compact, the tribe and the
city of Tucson executed an intergovernmental agreement for this
land that expressly covers taxation, jurisdiction, municipal
services, like trash, water, electricity, and tribal payments
in lieu of taxes.
The project's operation will create a possibly 500 total
direct jobs that also will generate approximately about $17
million in direct wages in the city and county and spending in
the range of $12 million to $12.5 million in vendor spending in
the city and the county in southern Arizona.
Another net positive economic impact will be an increase in
wages in the region, an increase in tax revenues to the State
and local governments, and additional revenues to the city of
Tucson through our IGA. The new property will pay annual taxes
of approximately $8.3 million, including distributions to the
State payroll taxes and sales taxes. Recognizing that the
tribe's withholdings were insufficient for its needs, in 1994,
Congress, this Committee, directed the Secretary of the
Interior to conduct a land study for the tribe. A land study
would determine that the existing land base of our 22,000-
member tribe is inadequate. For that establishment of a diverse
economic base and basic housing needs, the acquisition of Old
Pascua lands into trust would partially fulfill this
Congressional initiative, while facilitating tribal self-
determination, economic development, and housing.
On behalf of my nation, I want to thank you for your time.
We have a long and positive relationship with this Committee
that we pray continues to grow and remain prosperous. As we say
back home, here in my home, Enchy mampo tawak, ``It's in your
hands.'' Lios aapo enchim. May God be with you, all of you
always. May the good Lord bless all of our tribes throughout
the Country and our Congressional people who are trying to do a
good job. Blessings. Thank you very much on behalf of the
Pascua Yaqui Tribe.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Yucupicio follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Peter Yucupicio, Chairman, Pascua Yaqui
Tribe
I. Introduction
Lios enchim aniavu, Chairman Schatz, Vice Chair Murkowski, and
members of the Committee. My name is Peter Yucupicio, and I am the
Chairman of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona (``the Tribe''). I am
here today to ask for your support to pass H.R. 4881, the Old Pascua
Community Land Acquisition Act. This legislation would implement a
provision in our recently federally approved compact with the State of
Arizona. It is also consistent with our inter-governmental agreement
with the City of Tucson and is in line with the established
congressional understanding that the Pascua Yaqui Tribe needs to
develop a larger land base--in this case, land that is of great
cultural and historic importance to the Tribe, while also suitable for
economic development that would greatly benefit both the Tribe and the
surrounding community in the form of millions of dollars of investment
and the creation of thousands of new jobs.
First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge and express our
appreciation. Our tribe has a long and substantial history of working
with Congressmen and Senators like yourselves, here in Washington D.C.,
past and present, who have been champions for the Yaqui people. As you
know, Congressmen Mo Udall, Ed Pastor, and of course, the late, great,
Senator John McCain all sponsored legislation on our behalf, and for
that we will always be grateful. These gentlemen worked tirelessly to
support our efforts to secure a small land base for our people, obtain
federal recognition, and re-affirm our status as a historic tribe with
all the attributes of a sovereign nation. We owe a debt of gratitude to
these elder statesmen who treated our government-to-government
relationship with respect and who have helped our tribe prosper over
many decades to where we are today.
I am also happy to report, as you know, that H.R. 4881 passed the
House on November 2, 2021, on an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 375-
45-1--a testament to the merits of the bill, which will both protect
cultural sites of great importance to our people, as well as create
hundreds of jobs to benefit not only the Pascua Yaqui, but also the
surrounding communities.
(A) Purpose of the bill/law
We are here today seeking to have land put into trust for our tribe
in our historic community of Old Pascua in accordance with agreements
that we have reached with both the State of Arizona and the City of
Tucson. In total, this includes approximately 31 acres of land the
tribe currently owns in fee. We have two purposes for placing this land
into trust: first, to preserve our cultural grounds where we have held
religious ceremonies for over one hundred years; and second, to develop
economic opportunities for our tribal members and provide the benefits
of economic development to the surrounding community. Under the bill,
Congress would direct the Department of the Interior to take certain
parcels of tribally owned fee land, located in the community of Old
Pascua, in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona, into trust for the benefit of
the Tribe, for cultural purposes, economic development, and gaming.
Transferring these lands into trust will protect and promote our
sacred cultural spaces for our people and support our participation in
Yaqui cultural events, and tribal affairs, while also fostering the
ongoing transmission of Yaqui knowledge, culture, history and
traditions, and the continuity between our past and our future. Equally
as important, the trust acquisition will help raise the standard of
living in the Old Pascua Community, helping our families to live
modestly through economic development, and the promotion of self-
sufficiency by extending opportunities for our children, grandchildren,
neighbors, and future generations.
The land should be made part of the Tribe's current reservation and
Congress should make findings that the proposed fee to trust transfer
at Old Pascua would be in the best interest of the Tribe, and that the
Tribe has historic, ethnographic, and cultural ties to the land.
(B) Background on the Pascua Yaqui Tribe
The Pascua Yaqui Tribe is a federally recognized tribe with a
reservation southwest of Tucson, Arizona, recognized pursuant to the
Act of September 18, 1978, P.L. 95-375 (92 Stat. 712), as amended, and
the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (48 Stat. 984) (IRA). The Tribe
is an historic tribe with a small, 2,216-acre Reservation established
for the use and benefit of the tribe's 22,000 members. The Pascua Yaqui
are of an ancient and enduring people, indigenous to this land. The
Tribe recognizes cultural affiliation with the Ancestral Sonoran Desert
People and with our related cultural communities throughout the Greater
Southwest region, including the areas that now make up the United
States Southwest and Northwest Mexico. Evidence of the affiliation
among Yaqui ancestors and those of other contemporary cultural
communities in the region can be found in cultural, ritual,
cosmological, linguistic, and other threads of continuity in ancestral
places and within our communities today. As the late community leader
Anselmo Valencia Tori stated to the U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Indian Affairs in 1993,
``The aboriginal boundaries of the Yoemem (presently known as Yaqui
Indians) stretched from north as far as Durango, Colorado; west as far
as Yuma, Arizona, and some parts of California; east through New Mexico
and Arizona and south as far as the southern tip of Sonora, Mexico.''
We have lived in the area, including what is now the southwestern
United States and northern Mexico, since time immemorial. As early as
the 1690s, the Tumacacori area became the earliest recorded settlement
of Yaquis in what later became Arizona.
Holders of Hiaki (Yaqui) cultural knowledge tell of ancient Yaqui
settlements along the river now known as the Santa Cruz, and of trade
between Yaqui ancestors and their neighbors. Material evidence of this
interaction among the people of the region, including Yaqui ancestors,
can be found in the immediate vicinity of Old Pascua Village, and even
within the boundaries of the lands proposed for transfer into trust for
the Tribe. Ancestors' communities in the Tucson basin and elsewhere in
the Arizona Sonoran Desert region, labeled by archaeologists as ``Early
Agriculture,'' ``Early Ceramic,'' and ``Hohokam'' provide evidence of
the movement of people and goods throughout the region, including areas
now known as Sonora and Arizona. Specifically confirming the
associations between the coast of the Gulf of California, where the
historically identified Yaqui homeland is found, and the ancient
residents of the Old Pascua vicinity, are significant quantities of
marine shell from Gulf species found at the Santa Cruz Bend, Square
Hearth, and Stone Pipe sites. \1\ These sites date primarily to the
Early Agriculture and Early Ceramic periods, spanning the years 1200
B.C. to 475 A.D. The Stone Pipe site partly overlaps the western
boundary of the lands proposed for transfer into trust for the Tribe.
The movement of people and marine shells and other objects of value
between the Gulf region and the northern Sonoran Desert region
continued throughout the following ``Hohokam Millennium,'' as the
ancestors of today's O'odham, Yaqui, and other communities continued to
live, move, trade, and interact amongst each other.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ AZ AA:12:746 [ASM], AZ AA:12:745 [ASM], and AZ BB:13:425 [ASM])
(Vokes 1998).
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Yaqui elders in Old Pascua who were interviewed by Edward H. Spicer
starting in the 1930s told the anthropologist that ``Their forebearers
had roamed the country even before the coming of the Spanish.'' \2\
Knowledge of pre-colonial Yaqui trading and military camps in and
around the Tucson area continues to be shared in Yaqui oral tradition.
In his 1993 testimony to Congress, Anselmo Valencia Tori reported pre-
Spanish Yaqui settlements along the Santa Cruz River where the
Tumacacori mission would be located; at a location just north of Old
Pascua that was called Val-Gojoria, then Alagua, and is now known as
Jaynes Station; and further downstream to the north at the site of the
present town of Toltec. \3\ When the Spanish invaders made their way
north through the Sonoran Desert, they enlisted the aid of
knowledgeable Yaqui people who helped to guide them into the northern
country that they knew well.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ Spicer, Edward H. 1988 People of Pascua. University of Arizona
Press, Tucson.
\3\ Statement of Anselmo Valencia. Part of Pascua Yaqui Status
Clarification Act hearing before the Subcommittee on Native American
Affairs of the Committee on Natural Resources, House of
Representatives, 103 U.S. Congress. April 30, 1993. Accessed at https:/
/www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-103hhrg69904/pdf/CHRG-
103hhrg69904.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is no wonder that during eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries, Yaqui people were the second most recorded indigenous
people, after the O'odham, in the records of the Spanish colonial
missions in what is now southern Arizona and northern Sonora. Yaqui
people appear in the mission records as early as the 1720s. In a 1796
census, Yaquis represented approximately 12 percent of the population
both at Tumacacori, in what is now Arizona, and at Cocospera, about 60
miles southwest of present-day Nogales.
In 1775 the Presidio de San Agustin de Tucson was built in present-
day downtown Tucson, Arizona. As a buffer zone, the eleven-acre
presidio housed many residents, including the auxiliary soldiers
enlisted to protect and serve the surrounding areas. In 1817, Alvino
Ocoboa, identified as a Yaqui soldier, resided in the presidio with his
wife and children. \4\ Other individuals and families at the presidio
are likely to have been of Yaqui heritage. Inconsistent record-keeping
mislabeled or omitted individuals and families' ethnic markers, and
frequently people would hide their indigenous heritage in exchange for
higher social status. \5\ The Ocoboa family in early 1800s Tucson
Presidio connect to other Yaquis families with the same last name in
the Tumacacori area recorded during the 1790s to the early 1800s. \6\
Yaquis continued to trek northward to areas already recognized in oral
traditional knowledge. Tucson was no exception. The Tucson Presidio was
a multicultural hub where Yaqui, O'odham, Spanish, Mexican, and other
groups resided and moved throughout following the Santa Cruz River.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ Officer, James E. 2015 Hispanic Arizona, 1536-1856. University
of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ.
\5\ Jackson 1995; McCaa 1984; Miranda 1988.
\6\ Id.
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During the period of Mexican control of Southern Arizona and during
the first decades of United States governance, the documentary record
of Yaqui people in Arizona becomes more difficult to locate. As Anselmo
Valencia Tori noted, ``The Yaquis were a strong fierce People who were
being warred upon and persecuted for no reason. It was the strategy of
the Yaqui People to disguise their heritage to avoid further
persecution by these invading forces.'' \7\ But there remains evidence
of the Yaqui people continuing to live in and around Arizona.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ Historic displacement, widespread injustices, and the
dispossession of land, territories, and resources are key elements in
recent Yaqui history. For example, between 1882 and 1911, the Mexican
Government under Porfirio Diaz enacted a policy of Yaqui extermination,
military occupation, genocide, and slavery on plantations in the
Yucatan and Oaxaca. Thousands of Yaquis were sold into slavery and
thousands more died during the military campaign, displacing and
compelling other Yaquis to migrate. Up until, 1918 in the United
States, and 1929 in Mexico, our ancestors never hesitated to defend or
give their lives for the protection of the Yaqui way of life. January
9, 1918 was the last time the United States Army and Native Americans
engaged in combat at the Battle of Bear Valley, an engagement fought
between a band of Yaquis and a detachment of United States Army
soldiers of the American 10th Cavalry Regiment (Buffalo Soldiers), near
Arivaca, Arizona. It was the final official battle of the American
Indian Wars. However, the Yaqui were still engaged in defense of their
people in war with Mexico, in the last major engagements of the Yaqui-
Mexican Wars.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
One example comes from Tucson's Court Street Cemetery. During the
excavation to construct the Justice Court Complex in downtown Tucson,
the SRI's Archaeological Data Recovery Project discovered a nineteenth
century site that included human remains from O'odham, Yaqui, and other
groups. The remains date between 1860-1890. \8\ The tribal communities
were contacted to coordinate a repatriation for the remains to be
reburied in 2010. The census information and the discovery of Yaqui
burials in 2006 provide additional confirmation that Yaquis have
continuously inhabited the Tucson area for centuries with histories of
an interconnected landscape, kinship, and social networks. The Tucson
Presidio site and the Justice Court Complex are both less than 2 miles
from the Barrio Anita area, which was an early recognized Yaqui barrio,
\9\ and 3.4 miles from the properties proposed for transfer to trust
status.
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\8\ Hall, John D., O'Mack, Scott, Heilen, Michael P., Swope, Karen,
Hefner, Jospeh T., Sewell, Kristin, and Gray, Marlesa, 2010 End of
Fieldwork Report for the Joint Courts Complex Archaeological Data
Recovery Project. Strategical Research Inc.
\9\ Warnock, John 2016 ``Tucson: A Place -Making,'' Journal of the
Southwest, Vol 58, No. 3, pp. 361-616.
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In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, numerous Yaqui
communities were documented within the vicinity of what is now called
``Old Pascua'' or ``Pascua Village.'' The village of Bwi!a Bwalko
(translating in the Yaqui language to ``soft earth'') or Tierra Floja
(translating in the Spanish language to ``loose earth''), was located
along the I-10 and Miracle Mile, east of the Santa Cruz River, in
approximately the same location where the present University of Arizona
West Campus Agricultural Center property is located. Yaquis from
surrounding areas gathered at Old Pascua to hold Lenten ceremonies,
much as they do today. These ceremonies include specific processionals
throughout Old Pascua that arrive and depart the grounds of the 1.7-
acre Old Pascua Cultural Plaza which would be transferred to the United
States under the current bill. The Cultural Plaza is owned by the Tribe
and listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a traditional
cultural property (TCP). Because of the importance of Old Pascua to our
people, in 1921, the joint efforts of Yaqui leaders, local politicians
and others secured the initial 40-acre parcel that formalized Pascua
Village and within two years, Thamar Richey helped progress the
establishment of Richey Elementary School in Pascua Village.
While the community of Old Pascua is not held in trust by the
United States, it is recognized by the BIA as ``near-reservation''
lands under 25 C.F.R. Part 20, for purposes of extending BIA financial
assistance and/or social services. \10\ Over the years, the Tribe has
purchased commercial properties and Tribal residences within or
adjacent to Old Pascua to support our Tribal members and tribal self-
determination goals. In addition to the 1.7-acre Old Pascua Church and
Cultural Plaza, as of this writing, the Tribe owns approximately 30
acres of commercial property for Tribal economic development purposes
in or around Old Pascua that would be transferred into trust under the
current bill. \11\ Overall, there are over 500 residences, tribal and
non-tribal, in Old Pascua. The Tribe own approximately 43 Tribal
residences in fee in the Old Pascua community.
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\10\ See 48 Fed. Reg. 40442, September 7, 1983.
\11\ See Attached Exhibit A.
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In 1960, Yaquis in Old Pascua initiated a request for land
primarily to protect their culture and seek a permanent home. In 1963,
the Pascua Yaqui Association was formed. In 1964, the U.S. Government
deeded 202.76 acres to the Pascua Yaqui Association. In 1975, the
Pascua Yaqui Association sought federal recognition from Congress, and
on September 18, 1978, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe was officially recognized
by Congress. \12\ It is of great importance to note that we have
landless non-Reservation communities throughout Southern Arizona,
California, and even Texas. The largest concentrated population of
Yaqui people on the U.S. side of the border liveon the Pascua Yaqui
Reservation and in our several Tribally Recognized Communities, \13\
both in and around the greater Tucson/Pima County region and in the
Maricopa/Pinal County regions.
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\12\ 25 U.S.C. 1300f-2.
\13\ ``Tribally Recognized Communities'' represent specifically
delineated geographic areas where our Tribal members have historically
congregated and where they have a continuing presence today. These
Tribally Recognized Communities, including Old Pascua, are formally
recognized by the Tribe for purposes of Tribal enrollment and Tribal
services. See, e.g., Resolution of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe Approving
Extension of Boundaries for Recognized Yaqui Communities for Purposes
of Enrollment Demographics and for Defining Community Boundaries and
Service Areas, Resolution No. C03-38-08. In addition, the Tribally
Recognized Communities of Old Pascua is recognized by the Bureau of
Indian Affairs (BIA) as ``near-reservation'' lands under 25 C.F.R.,
Part 20, for purposes of extending BIA financial assistance and/or
social services. See 48 Fed. Reg. 40442, September 7, 1983.
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Members of the Tribe have lived in these Tribally Recognized
Communities since before the Tribe was Federally Recognized in 1978,
but these communities were not made a part of the Tribe's reservation.
At the time of recognition, a small parcel of land was made
reservation, and Congress later acknowledged that a study was needed to
determine whether the Tribe would need more land. \14\
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\14\ P.L. 103-357 (October 14, 1994).
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II. Reasons for Congress to Authorize the Taking of this Land into
Trust
As described below, the land at issue has been the subject of
detailed agreements with both the State of Arizona, in the form of a
federally approved compact, and the City of Tucson, in the form of an
inter-governmental agreement. Further, the location is one of historic
and cultural importance to the Pascua Yaqui and its acquisition would
be consistent with past Congressional actions recognizing the need of
the Pascua Yaqui for additional lands given the Tribe's relatively
small reservation.
(A) The Pascua Yaqui Tribe has worked with the State of Arizona, City
of Tucson, and tribal governments, and executed agreements
supporting the placement of this land into trust.
1.) Placing this land into trust would be in accordance with our 2021
Amended Gaming Compact.
The Pascua Yaqui Tribe recently finalized negotiations and approved
amendments to its gaming compact with the State of Arizona. A 2021
Amended and Restated Gaming Compact was approved by the Department of
Interior on May 24, 2021 (the Compact). Of utmost importance to the
Tribe, the Compact has a provision which allows the Tribe to develop a
gaming facility in the community of Old Pascua if H.R. 4881 becomes
law.
After nearly 5 years of negotiation, the statewide Arizona Compact
was finalized to include provisions that ensure strict limitations on
the location of gaming facilities, number of gaming facilities, numbers
of gaming devices, and the types and numbers of games allowable for
each tribe. The Compact gives each tribe the opportunity to improve its
economic circumstances.
The Compact achieves a balance for all parties and creates a
positive and predictable business environment for every tribe. In
addition to creating a competitive balance among gaming tribes, the
compact also creates a new revenue stream for non-gaming tribes through
a Compact Trust Fund, and continued the machine rights transfer
mechanism, through which gaming tribes in large markets can put more
gaming devices into play by purchasing the rights to operate those
devices from tribes located in small or non-existent gaming markets.
The Compact also provides for tribal revenue-sharing with the State and
local governments in exchange for enhanced tribal exclusivity for
casino gaming.
Our amended Compact authorizes our Tribe to seek to place this land
into trust for the purpose of gaming. It contains a specific and
limited area in the 2021 Amended Compact itself. This particular area
of land is located within and adjacent to the Old Pascua Community and
is called the ``Compact Designated Area'' on the map submitted with
this testimony.
It is important to note that Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona
supports this legislation (HR 4881). \15\ It is equally important to
note that the Arizona legislature overwhelmingly approved on a
bipartisan basis, Arizona's 2021 Gaming Act, (HB 2772) which was a
companion to our Amended 2021 Compact with the State. We are also proud
that other Arizona tribes agreed to this legislation and have given
letters of support to the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. \16\
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\15\ See Attached Exhibit B.
\16\ See Attached Exhibit C.
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The 2021 Amended Compact represents the will of the State of
Arizona and Arizona Tribes. The Compact also has the support of the
Department of Interior through rigorous review of tribal gaming
compacts required under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. \17\
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\17\ See Attached Exhibit D.
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2.) Our Tribe and the City of Tucson have executed an intergovernmental
agreement that addresses this land being placed into trust for
gaming purposes.
The City of Tucson also supports this legislation. \18\ This is
evidenced by both an intergovernmental agreement (``IGA'') between our
two governments and a recent letter of support submitted by Mayor
Regina Romero on behalf of the City. \19\ After years of negotiations,
the IGA was signed at the end of 2019, and amended this year. The
economic benefits to the Tribe and the City of Tucson if the bill is
enacted will be very significant. It will benefit its members by
increasing tribal revenue for tribal government services, enable the
Tribe to build new tribal housing, and creating new jobs for tribal
members and the city/county during both the construction and operation
phases of the proposed project.
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\18\ See Attached Exhibit E.
\19\ See Attached Exhibit F.
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The Project will increase economic output and employment in the
City of Tucson, and in Pima County. It will result in direct economic
output from construction spending and annual operating revenue from the
casino and retail space.
Construction is estimated to create hundreds of direct jobs and
generate millions of dollars in construction payroll. The project's
operation will create approximately 500 total direct jobs. It also will
generate approximately $17,000,000 in direct wages in the City/County,
and annual spending in the range of $12,000,000 to $12,500,000 in
vendor spending in the City/County.
Another net positive economic impact will be an increase in wages
in the region, an increase in tax revenues to the state and local
governments, and additional revenues to City of Tucson through our IGA.
The new property will pay annual taxes of approximately $8,300,000
including gaming distributions to the State, payroll taxes, and sales
taxes.
In addition, the IGA covers a multitude of issues that come with
placing land into trust within a municipality: taxes, jurisdiction,
municipal services like trash, water, and electricity. The City's tax
base will not be eroded as the Tribe has agreed to make payments to the
city in lieu of taxes. The Tribe has also agreed to provide funding to
mitigate the costs associated with the development. Our governments
have also pledged to work closely on dealing with any criminal
jurisdictional issues. The City's leadership has recognized the
economic benefits and value of a gaming facility near Old Pascua and
has thrown their full support behind our efforts to put this land into
trust.
(B) Congress has already recognized the PYT's need for more land.
Land is sacred to the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. Land is what ensures
continuity because it is not only where our ancestors once lived, but
also where future generations will be born; it constitutes a
fundamental component of life. Land is also a means to preserve our
cultural identity separate and apart from mainstream society. In
addition to its spiritual and cultural significance, tribal land plays
an important practical role. Many tribal nations rely on their land for
their livelihood, which may be based on hunting, fishing, or
agriculture. Unfortunately, our tribe does not have a large land base
that is rich in natural resources and so we have had to use it as
efficiently as possible to provide for our members. Our land base helps
us exercise tribal self-governance and self-determination. As a
government, we've created our own tax structures, passed laws to
provide for public safety, regulate business and industry, and perform
other functions identical to those typically provided by a combination
of the state, county, city, or town.
Given the location of our reservation and the size of our
membership, we are in dire need of additional land. Congress
transferred 202 acres of land southwest of Tucson to the Pascua Yaqui
Association in 1964. \20\ The Reservation was formally established in
1978 and the members of Pascua Yaqui Association were federally
recognized as the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. In 1982, with the enactment of
H.R. 4364, the Reservation was expanded by 690 acres with the intent of
improving the socio-economic environment of tribal members. \21\ In
2014, H.R. 507 was enacted which placed two 10-acre parcels into trust
for the Tribe. \22\ Pursuant to H.R. 1404, the Tribe acquired 40 acres
of land for flood control development in 2019. In addition, the Tribe
has purchased land in fee and has placed land into trust via the
administrative process that is delineated in 25 C.F.R. 151.
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\20\ Private Law 88-350, 78 Stat. 1196.
\21\ Public Law 97-386; S. Rpt. 97-657.
\22\ Public Law 113-134, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe Trust Act.
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We started with 202 acres and 500 tribal members when we became
federally recognized in 1978. Thankfully, our reservation has slowly
grown to 2,216 acres and we now have approximately 22,000 members
enrolled with our tribe. This expected growth means that our government
has to respond to a corresponding need for land and services. As
discussed below, our current reservation simply is not large enough to
accommodate for our growing population or the land needs for ancillary
government and economic development required for a healthy community.
Additionally, the reservation is now approaching a point where
expansion will no longer be possible.
Recognizing this situation, Congress directed the Secretary of the
Interior to conduct a land study for the Tribe in 1994. \23\ The
Secretary of Interior was instructed to conduct a study to determine
(1) whether the lands held in trust on October 14, 1994, by the United
States for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe were adequate for the needs of the
Tribe for the foreseeable future; and (2) if such lands were not
adequate--(A) whether suitable additional lands are available for
acquisition by exchange or purchase; and (B) the cost and location of
the suitable additional lands. As part of this study, the Secretary was
directed to ``provide for the participation of members of the Pascua
Yaqui Tribe'' in the study.
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\23\ P.L. 103-357 (October 14, 1994), which amended P.L. 95-375
(September 18, 1978), as codified at 25 U.S.C. 1300f-3. The study
amendment was submitted by Senator John McCain to address issues raised
about the Tribe's limited land holdings during the time Congress was
considering amended legislation in 1994. Congress understood that the
Tribe would need additional lands, but that such lands could not be
identified without further study. For this reason, the Tribe's newly
acquired lands adjacent to their traditional territory should be placed
in trust, especially since the State and Interior have approved the use
of this land for gaming in the gaming compact and where the acquisition
of this land addresses wrongs that arose in how the Tribe was treated
by Interior between 1978 and 1994, with regard to land acquisitions,
funding, and services.
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1.) The Tribe conducted a land study in 2013 which concluded that the
Tribe is in need of more land-a follow-up study in 2021
confirms these findings.
In accordance with the 1994 law, the Tribe received funding from
the Bureau of Indian Affairs to conduct a land study in 2013. In it,
the study concluded that the current land base is entirely insufficient
for the Tribe and its members. The Tribe currently has 2,216 acres of
Reservation land. The reservation lies in and around the Black Wash, a
100-year Federal Emergency Management Agency designated floodplain,
with numerous culverts and drainage ditches crossing the community.
The reservation was placed in a remote location in 1978. The
Reservation has no access to local surface water, and groundwater
pumping is impracticable. Just below the earth's surface, is a thick
layer of bedrock. Since 1978, the City of Tucson and surrounding
communities have expanded, and the increase in the number of homes and
businesses has essentially land locked the Tribe. The current
reservation land use is almost at capacity. The Tribe has primarily
used its land for housing purposes. There are also various governmental
buildings and two gaming properties on the reservation. Due to the
encroachment of the city, and the existing uses on the reservation, the
Tribe will have difficulty expanding its existing reservation land
base.
The land study, assessed the Tribe's population needs and growth
patterns to determine the need for additional land to provide the
necessary land base for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe in the foreseeable
future and to manage growth in an efficient and sustainable manner. The
land study also includes Pascua Yaqui tribally recognized communities
in the Greater Tucson/Pima County and Maricopa/Pinal County regions.
Some of these tribally recognized communities include lands held in fee
by the Tribe. None of these tribally recognized communities include
Reservation lands. Yaqui communities in the Greater Tucson/Pima County
region include the Tribe's Reservation, which is known as Pascua
Pueblo, as well as Pascua Yaqui tribally recognized communities
including: Yoem Pueblo (Marana); Old Pascua; and Barrio Libre/16th &
44th (South Tucson). The Tribe's Tortuga Ranch is also included in this
region. Pascua Yaqui tribally recognized communities in the Maricopa
County and Pinal County regions include communities in Guadalupe,
Penjamo (Scottsdale), High Town, Eloy and Coolidge.
The existing land base of the Tribe has been determined to be
inadequate for the establishment of a diverse economic base and basic
housing needs. The acquisition of additional land is necessary to
facilitate self-determination, economic development and housing. The
Tribe anticipates continuing advancement through infrastructure
development, including, but not limited, to the following: housing,
education, employment, government administration, economic development,
recreation, open space, medical, and health.
Combining both residential and nonresidential land uses,
approximately 18,168.4 additional acres will be needed to house the
projected population and all the functions needed to economically
sustain the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. \24\ A total of 4,355 acres of
residential land will be needed in 2115 to house the Pascua Yaqui Tribe
population. Assuming the ratio of residential (21 percent) and
nonresidential (79 percent) land uses remains constant throughout the
planning horizon 2015 to 2115, approximately 14,353 additional acres of
nonresidential land will be needed to support all nonresidential land
uses.
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\24\ 2013 Pascua Yaqui Land Study.
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The projected housing needs for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe for 2115 is
17,299 housing units. Based on the traditional settlement pattern of
the Yaqui people at a density of four homes per acre, or an average lot
size of 0.25 acres, a total of 4,355 residential acres will be needed
by 2115 to provide housing for the projected population.
The small amount of Reservation land acreage available for
development (791.4 acres) is not enough land to include the current and
projected Tribe's housing needs. As previously mentioned, there are
currently 675 people on the current housing waiting list. If acreage
available for development is dedicated to housing only, the economic
viability of the Tribe will be seriously compromised. A healthy balance
of residential and non-residential land uses is needed to support the
projected population in a sustainable manner. All the uses mentioned
above require additional lands.
The majority of Pascua Yaqui tribal members reside outside the
exterior boundaries of the reservation but within the seven tribally
recognized communities in Arizona. As such, the trust lands are
inadequate and insufficient for its members. The reservation lands
established for the Tribe in 1978 \25\ and subsequent years are located
in a floodplain area. This complicates and increases the cost of land
development. Further, the Tribe is significantly land-locked with very
limited opportunities to acquire land adjacent to or in close proximity
to the Reservation. These unique circumstances and the comprehensive
long-range development plans for creation of a diverse and self-
sustaining Tribal community support this request.
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\25\ Act of Oct. 8, 1964, Private Law 88-350, 78 Stat. 1196.
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The Tribe administers its programs and services from the
reservation but provides services to all of its recognized communities.
This situation has presented many difficulties. For example, some
members may have to travel hundreds of miles to reach the closest
tribal government office or health facility. A thriving, self-
sufficient, healthy and sustainable community involves much more than
having the acreage needed to support its future residential land use
needs. It also requires acreage to fulfill its government and
administrative functions, economic development functions (commerce,
employment, industry, tourism, technology and innovation), for
community services (education, libraries, police and fire protection,
emergency management), cultural, health services, infrastructure
(roads, water, sewer, drainage, waste, utilities), and amenities such
as parks, recreation, trails and open space land needs. The Pascua
Yaqui Tribe is no exception and has diligently been working in that
direction since its recognition.
(C) Old Pascua is a logical place for more land to be placed into trust
on behalf of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe.
1.) A brief history of Old Pascua
The Pascua Yaqui Tribe considers this bill a restoration of a
portion of our homeland. To be perfectly clear, Old Pascua is one of
our recognized ancestral communities. Tribal members have resided there
for countless generations. Many tribal members were relocated from Old
Pascua to New Pascua in 1964. New Pascua has become the official tribal
headquarters. Nevertheless, tribal members continue to reside in the
Old Pascua community. Since the relocation, the Tribe has continued to
provide various services to tribal members in Old Pascua. It is
important to note that Old Pascua was given a ``Near-Reservation
Designation'' by the Department of Interior on August 3, 1983. This
allows the Tribe to provide financial assistance and/or social services
via BIA funding to the community. The Tribe has also purchased
residential and commercial land in the community. Presently, 500
members of our Tribe reside in Old Pascua.
Old Pascua is one of the longest continually inhabited Yaqui
villages of what is now Southern Arizona. Non-Yaquis took notice of the
village in the early 1900s. In 1920, a Tucson developer, A.M. Franklin,
donated 40 acres for the stated purpose of establishing a ``Yaqui
Nation'' in Arizona. \26\ Since 1921, the Old Pascua Cultural Plaza and
church has served as the oldest formally established Yaqui community in
Tucson. The plaza consists of a 1.7-acre lot, with a chapel, the
Capilla San Ignacio de Loyola. \27\ The Plaza has served as a Yaqui
cultural center and the site of our community activities and
ceremonies. \28\
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\26\ Tucson Citizen 1971
\27\ Chapel of St. Ignatius of Loyola.
\28\ See Exhibit G.
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Old Pascua Village was annexed into the City of Tucson, Arizona in
1952. Beginning in the 1960s, Yaquis in Old Pascua initiated requests
for additional land, primarily to protect our culture from outside
groups. Many challenges existed to our ability to maintain our cultural
and traditional practices with the City of Tucson growing around us.
Challenges included regulation, taxation, access and ownership of our
sacred, cultural, traditional, and religious grounds, and limited
access to sites of symbolic importance, such as the Santa Cruz River
\29\ for gathering ceremonial materials. \30\ Encroachment created
obstacles to maintaining cultural and linguistic ties to our families
and culturally connected relatives. Other problems included the
protection of cultural items and traditional cultural regalia, such as
ceremonial gourds and rattles because of the lack of cultural
understanding and protective laws.
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\29\ The Santa Cruz River used to run perennially and supported
Cottonwood, Willow forests, and Mesquite bosques. It provided food
security, and health. The Santa Cruz River allowed for indigenous
subsistence farming, the collection of edible plant materials and
medicines, and helped fulfill dietary requirements, ensuring food
security, good health, and environmental diversity.
\30\ Cottonwood, Carizzo (bamboo), flowers, Mesquite, willow, palm,
cocoons (E. Calleta R. Sincta moth).
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To address these challenges, the tribe formed the Pascua Yaqui
Association (PYA) in 1963. As mentioned above, Congressman Morris K.
Udall (D-AZ) introduced a bill to transfer 202 acres of desert land
southwest of Tucson to our Yaqui elders in 1964. \31\ The bill was
later signed into law and the deed to the land was transferred to the
PYA. In 1967, the first families moved into ``New Pascua.'' Some tribal
members relocated to land set aside for them in rural Pima County by
the United States that would become our Tribe's future and current
reservation, while others refused to leave their ancestral homelands of
Old Pascua.
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\31\ ``New Pascua,'' H.R. 6233: Public Law 88-350, 78 Stat. 1196,
(Morris K. Udall (D-AZ)).
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2.) The Cultural Significance of Old Pascua
It is nearly impossible to describe in full our Tribe's
relationship to Old Pascua. I suppose I should begin with explaining
what Pascua means. For those who do not speak Spanish, Pascua means
Easter. Our Tribe conducts sacred rituals during Lent that have been
witnessed by thousands and that have been documented by historians and
scholars. The people who observed these ceremonies associated our tribe
with Easter and began to refer to our community as Pascua.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of our tribal members have literally
poured their blood, sweat, and tears onto the land of Old Pascua for
the purpose of fulfilling their cultural duties. Our cultural plaza is
a source of hope. It is a center for our members to come together and
perform rituals that have been passed down for hundreds of years. Our
devotion to these traditions is unquestionable and is a source of great
pride for our tribe. Beyond the four corners of our plaza, we carry on
processions in accordance with our beliefs and these processions occur
throughout the rest of Old Pascua. For these reasons, the land is and
will remain sacred to us.
As stated above, the plaza has been the focus of Yaqui traditional
religious, cultural, and social events. The dances, processions, and
other ceremonial activities that occur there are a critical part of
Yaqui life and tradition. These rituals keep Yaqui heritage alive; they
serve to teach young tribal members of their unique past and their
traditional way of life. In addition, they enrich the lives of all who
view the ceremonies and in so doing learn about the Yaqui culture.
For the Tribe, the practice of religion, the furtherance of social
lifeways, and the education of the young in cultural traditions are
intertwined, and it is within the plaza that the majority of the
activities occur that promote these components of our culture. The
paramount function of the plaza is as a religious/ceremonial location.
The ceremonies that take place on the plaza are both pre-Christian and
Christian in origin and are conducted to honor or bless events and/or
persons, who may be Yaqui or non-Yaqui.
Cultural and Ceremonial Overview
Yaqui culture plays an integral role in the sustainment of our
people, our development, our communities, and our tribal governance.
The Christian ceremonies stem from the teachings of the Jesuit Andres
Perez de Ribas who entered Yaqui country in what is now southern Sonora
in 1618. He and the missionaries who followed him taught Christianity
by dramatizing events, including those of the Easter season. Over time
these Christian dramatizations were combined with ancient traditions
that centered on the connection of the Yaqui to the plant and animal
world and to the spirit of the Earth. In that world man could
communicate with animals, and special powers were inherent in the
forest, in animals, and in dreams.
Ceremonial fiestas occur throughout the year but the most complex
event, which is generally referred to as the Easter Ceremony, is
initiated on Ash Wednesday and continues through Easter Sunday. The
Easter Ceremony, which in essence is an extraordinarily complicated
pantomime of the death and resurrection of Jesus, includes both pre-
Christian and Christian themes melded together in a way that is
uniquely Yaqui. For example, two types of dancers, the Deer Dancers and
the Pascolas (literally ``old men of the fiesta'') exemplify the pre-
Christian traditions while others, such as Caballeros and Fariseos,
represent Christian components of the Easter pageant. It is this
ceremony by which the Yaqui are best defined to the non-Yaqui world
that surrounds them, and it is within the plaza that most Easter
Ceremony events occur, as well as those of the other ceremonial
fiestas.
Although the plaza may appear as an undistinguished dirt lot to the
uninitiated observer, to the Yaqui it is a location of paramount
importance, containing objects and areas of special significance. Thus,
the plaza is both culturally significant and sacred ground in an all-
encompassing sense. It is the location at the heart of Yaqui life in
Old Pascua Village where events occur that are integral components of
centuries-old Yaqui cultural traditions.
3.) The Tribe has continuously provided support to its tribal members
living in Old Pascua
The Tribe operates and maintains community centers in Old Pascua
that provide medical, social, and recreational services. Throughout
time, the Tribe has purchased both residential and commercial lots in
and adjacent to Old Pascua. The Tribe established a museum within the
neighborhood that highlights tribal history and contains precious
artifacts. The tribe has developed a strong partnership with the City
of Tucson regarding this community and even took the extraordinary step
to enter into an intergovernmental agreement (``IGA'') that outlines
current and future responsibilities that address the needs of the area.
Unfortunately, Old Pascua faces several economic and social
challenges. Unemployment, poor health, and inner-city violence is a
reality our tribal members must deal with on a daily basis. In response
to these difficulties, the Tribe has established a meal program for our
elders, an afterschool recreational program for our children, and
behavioral health services at our community center. The Tribe plans to
develop job training programs, a GED program and even more programs
aimed at improving the lives of our youth.
Housing has remained a central concern for the tribal members
living in Old Pascua. As such, the Tribe does provide maintenance
services to homes owned by tribal members. Many homes are in need of
repair and rehabilitation. The Tribe continues to spend funds for this
purpose, with particular attention to homes where elders reside.
Recently, the tribe installed air conditioning units in homes to help
improve the quality of life for its tribal members.
Through this legislation, the Tribe aims to restore a portion of
our original ancestral land. Although we already own some of it in fee,
placing the parcels into trust will allow us to have more direction and
control over the land. Old Pascua is sacred to the tribe and will
continue to be treated as such. With great pride and sense of purpose,
our rituals will continue to be performed there. Without question, the
goal of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe is to help support and serve the Pascua
Yaqui people. The Tribe will continue to protect this land and preserve
it as a place for tribal ceremonies.
(D) The Department of Interior is Authorized to Take Land into Trust on
Behalf of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe.
The Pascua Yaqui Tribe was recognized by Congress in 1978, through
Public Law 95-375. \32\ However, at the time, the Bureau of Indian
Affairs, established a distinction among tribes asserting that some
tribes were historical and possess all sovereign rights, and some
tribes were created, with certain limitations on their sovereign
rights. This issue arose for us when our Tribe submitted amendments to
our tribal constitution under the IRA, and the B.I.A., while reviewing
the amendments, determined that the Pascua Yaqui Tribe was not a
historic tribe, but was a ``created'' tribe. \33\ The B.I.A., labeled
the Tribe created, and between 1978 and 1994, denied the Pascua Yaqui
people the full benefits of sovereignty. The Tribe suffered years of
injustice and unequal treatment by the administrative decision to
diminish our sovereign authority, including impeding our authority
concerning land, property, taxation, and law and order. Our Tribal
leaders at the time sought legislative assistance in 1993 from Congress
to right the wrongs we were experiencing. Congress soundly rejected the
Department of Interior's opinion that our Tribe was a ``created''
tribe, and enacted P.L. 103-357 to clarify that we were indeed a
historic tribe, that possessed all the attributes of inherent tribal
sovereignty. \34\
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\32\ P.L. 103-357 (October 14, 1994), which amended P.L. 95-375 (92
Stat. 712) (September 18, 1978), codified at 25 U.S.C. 1300f-3, and
the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (48 Stat. 984) (IRA).
\33\ See page 12 of the April 30, 1993 Hearing Record of the House
Subcommittee on Native American Affairs on H.R. 734, to amend the act
entitled ``An Act to Provide for the Extension of Certain Federal
Benefits, Services, and Assistance to the Pascua Yaqui Indians of
Arizona, and for Other Purposes''--Written statement of Carol A. Bacon,
Director, Office of Tribal Services, Bureau of Indian Affairs.
\34\ 25 U.S.C. 1300(f)(a).
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The 1994 Amendment to our federal Recognition statute clarified the
Pascua Yaqui Tribe's status as a historic Indian tribe to end years of
unfairness to which the Pascua Yaqui people had been subjected, and
acknowledged the tribe was a ``federally recognized Indian tribe
possessing all the attributes of inherent sovereignty which have not
been specifically taken away by Acts of Congress and which are not
inconsistent with such tribal status.'' \35\ Moreover, an amendment
submitted by Senator McCain, codified Section 4, titled, ``Study.'' As
mentioned above, Section 4 mandated that the Secretary of the Interior
conduct a study to determine ``whether the lands held in trust for the
Pascua Yaqui Tribe are adequate for the needs of the tribe for the
foreseeable future and if such lands are not adequate, whether suitable
additional lands are available for acquisition by exchange or
purchase.'' \36\ In 1994, the Secretary of the Interior, no later than
2 years after the date on which funds were made available for the
study, was directed to submit a report to Congress that contained the
results of such a study. Funding was authorized to be appropriated as
necessary to carry out the provision of this law. \37\ Therefore, not
only was the Secretary authorized to take land into trust for the
Pascua Yaqui Tribe in 1978 through Public Law 95-375, in 1994, the
Secretary of the Interior was given additional authority pursuant to
Public Law 103-357, to take lands into trust and to conduct a Land
Study for the benefit of our Tribe. \38\ As explained, the Tribe did
not receive funding to obtain a Land Study until 2013, and to date, a
Congressional report has not been submitted to Congress by the
Department of Interior.
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\35\ 25 U.S.C. 1300f-1(a); ``The Pascua Yaqui Tribe is a
federally recognized sovereign entity that has existed as a formal
tribal government since time immemorial and yet an arbitrary
classification by the Bureau of Indian Affairs would seek to limit
their sovereign authority. By reaffirming the Pascua Yaqui Tribe's
status as a historic tribe, H.R. 734 would dispel the misconception
perpetuated by the BIA that the Pascua Yaqui Tribe has limited powers
of self-government delegated by the Federal Government. The notion of
delegated authority is inconsistent with settled principles of basic
Indian law; namely that federally recognized tribes retain any inherent
sovereign authority which has not specifically been divested by Federal
law. There is no legal support for the BIA's created versus historic
tribe distinction and the distinction must not be tolerated. The Pascua
Yaqui Tribe is either sovereign or not sovereign; there is no middle
ground.'' Congresswoman Karan English (D-AZ) (House of
Representatives--August 2, 1993).
\36\ 25 U.S.C. 1300f-4(a).
\37\ 25 U.S.C. 1300f-4(c)(d).
\38\ Status of Pascua Yaqui Indian People, P. L. No. 103-357, Oct.
14, 1994, 108 Stat. 3418, 25 U.S.C. 1300f-1300f-3.
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The acquisition of additional land is necessary to facilitate self-
determination, economic development, and to support the housing needs
of the Tribe.
Primarily because of our historic struggles with the B.I.A.,
Congress also saw fit in 1994 to amend Section 16 of the Indian
Reorganization Act \39\ to add subsections (f) and (g) to the Act. \40\
Subsection (f) prohibits the Secretary of the Interior from creating
any regulation which ``classifies, enhances, or diminishes the
privileges and immunities available to the Indian tribe relative to
other federally recognized tribes by virtue of their status as Indian
tribes.'' \41\ Subsection (g) provides that ``[a]ny regulation,
administrative decision, or determination of a Department or agency of
the United States that classifies, enhances, or diminishes the
privileges and immunities''' of an Indian tribe relative to the
privileges and immunities of other federally recognized Indian tribes
shall have no force or effect. \42\ These provisions were added as a
Senate floor amendment to S. 1654, the Technical Corrections Act of
1993, which became Public Law 103-263. \43\
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\39\ 25 U.S.C. 461 et seq.
\40\ 25 U.S.C. 476 (f) &(g), Public Law 103-263.
\41\ 25 U.S.C. 476(f).
\42\ 25 U.S.C. 476(g); ``The Congress has never acknowledged
distinctions in or classifications on inherent sovereignty possessed by
federally recognized Indian tribes. Tribal sovereignty must be
preserved and protected by the executive branch and not limited or
divided into levels which are measured by the Bureau of Indian Affairs
and the Department of the Interior. We must not revisit the darkest
period of Federal Indian policy by allowing the termination of tribal
sovereign authority through the implementation of the Bureau of Indian
Affairs policy distinction between historic and created Indian
tribes.'' Statement of Congressman Richardson on the consideration of
S. 1654, Cong. Rec. H3803, May 23, 1994.
\43\ ``The recognition of an Indian tribe by the Federal Government
is just that--the recognition that there is a sovereign entity with
governmental authority which predates the U.S. Constitution and with
which the Federal Government has established formal
relations.Regardless of the method by which recognition was extended,
all Indian tribes enjoy the same relationship with the United States
and exercise the same inherent authority.'' -Statement of Senator John
McCain on the consideration of S. 1654, 140 Cong. Rec. S6146, May 19,
1994.
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(E) The Department of Interior Supports H.R. 4881.
In written testimony presented on October 5, 2021, Bureau of Indian
Affairs Director, Darryl LaCounte, on behalf of the Department of
Interior, testified that the ``Department of the Interior supports H.R.
4881. This bill provides greater opportunity for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe
to make investments in the tribal economy, promotes community and
regional economic development within the greater Tucson region, and is
in keeping with the Biden Administration's commitment to support tribal
self-determination--including economic self-determination.'' \44\
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\44\ See Exhibit H.
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III. Conclusion
In short, we are asking Congress to approve what we consider a
promise, akin to a treaty, among the State, the City, and our
neighboring tribes regarding this issue. It would be the final step in
what has been a decade long process. We have taken great care to reach
out to and establish partnerships with our regional governmental
counterparts. As set out above, our transparent dreams have wide
support throughout Arizona, and our Congressional delegation. \45\ The
plan involves a massive investment on our part, calling for tens of
millions of dollars that will help create close to a thousand direct
and indirect jobs for our Tribe and for the residents of the City of
Tucson.
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\45\ See Exhibit I.
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We are a fast growing tribe and our membership is increasing. We
have more tribal members, children, and elders, who require services-
services like housing, health and medical, social services, and
education. We don't wish to be a burden because Yaquis are self-
sufficient hard-working people. Our reservation has become land locked;
we can't expand much further. Passing this law would be a restoration
of part of our homeland, a place where many of our stories have taken
place, where traditions have been passed down in songs and dances so
that each generation can learn about its culture and traditions.
Thank you again for your consideration. On behalf of my nation, I
want to share our gratitude to this Congress for upholding its trust
responsibilities to us. I hope and pray our relationship continues to
grow and remains prosperous.
As we say back home, Enchy mampo tawak, ``it's in your hands.''
Lios aapo enchim ``may God be with you.''
The attachments to this testimony have been retained in the
Committee files.
The Chairman. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Vice Chair Murkowski.
Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you
to all who have provided testimony today. I greatly appreciate
it.
I am going to turn first to you, Assistant Secretary
Newland. Welcome back to the Committee.
Not only in your testimony but in the comments that we have
heard from our Congressional leaders, we have gotten a pretty
fair outline of the history of Congressional action that has
been taken with regard to the Lumbee. When you referenced the
1956 Act, you acknowledged, recognized the Lumbee but
explicitly denies them access to Federal services. Later, as
you point out, this statute was also interpreted to preclude
the Lumbee from being considered for Federal acknowledgement
through the administrative process. Then Interior has since
reversed the position on that.
So the question to you today, and from my understanding,
the Department has taken the position that the Lumbee are not
precluded under the 1956 statute from utilizing the
administrative process. You have said that you are supportive
of this legislation.
Can you tell the Committee whether the Lumbee would be able
to achieve full Federal acknowledgement through that
administrative process? In other words, could Interior extend
Federal acknowledgement to the Lumbee? Then walk me through, if
you will, some of the different outcomes or the results that
might impact a tribe that is seeking Congressional recognition
versus administrative recognition.
Mr. Newland. Thank you, Vice Chair. I appreciate the
question. I appreciate the chance to be back here in person as
well.
You are right that in 2016, the Solicitor for the
Department of the Interior issued an opinion that stated the
Lumbee Tribe would be eligible to seek administrative
acknowledgement but didn't speak to any outcome of how the
Department would evaluate their application. In that opinion,
the Solicitor walked through the Department's inconsistent
views over the last 65 years on the impact of the 1956 Lumbee
Act. So as it stands today, the Lumbee Tribe would be eligible
to seek Federal acknowledgement through the Part 83 process at
the Department of the Interior. They don't have an active
petition before the Department, so I can't speak to the merits
of it here today.
In terms of the different outcomes, Congressional
recognition versus administrative recognition, in 1994 Congress
amended the Indian Reorganization Act in a way to ensure that
all federally recognized tribes would be entitled to the
privileges and immunities of all other federally recognized
tribes, no matter how they were recognized or when. So the
legal consequence of Congressional recognition versus
administrative recognition is essentially the same; once the
political branches of the Federal Government recognize the
sovereign status of a tribe, they are a federally recognized
tribe, treated the same as all other federally recognized
tribes in the United States.
Senator Murkowski. So the outcomes or results are the same,
if you will, regardless of whether it is Congressional
recognition or administrative recognition?
Mr. Newland. Correct.
Senator Murkowski. So let me ask this question to Chairman
Godwin, then. You are seeking Congressional action to affirm
the status versus the process of going through administrative
recognition. I guess the question is, why Congressional action
versus administrative?
Mr. Godwin. As others have stated, we have been pursuing
this for 133 years through Congressional action. We believe
that since Congress terminated the Lumbee Tribe as a matter of
law, that only Congress can reinstate full recognition to the
Lumbee Tribe. As you can tell, Interior has flip-flopped on
this issue many times over in the last 133 years. We don't feel
over the past years that we could get favorable response
through the Part 83 acknowledgement process.
So our stance on this is just a matter of dignity and the
work that we put into this, even up until today, a lot of work
has been put into this to go through the Congressional process.
That is the stance that we take, and it is certainly the stance
of the last six years of my life as chairman of the Lumbee
Tribe. That is the position we have taken.
Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I have one more question on the next round, but that is
helpful.
The Chairman. Thank you, Vice Chair. Before moving on to
Senator Tillis, I would like to respond to the Vice Chair. I
think it is a smart question about whether to pursue an
administrative process or a Congressional action. We are the
ones in possession of the Constitutional plenary authority of
tribal acknowledgement, tribal recognition. That authority is
also sort of, you know better than I do, Mr. Newland, but sort
of in an attenuated way delegated to the departments. But we
have a perfect right to do what we are doing. In fact, it is
the more common way historically of achieving recognition.
Senator Tillis.
Senator Tillis. Thank you, Senator Schatz. I will be brief.
First, to Harvey Godwin, Chairman Godwin, I should say. Thank
you for your leadership, and your tenure. I know you are going
to continue to work on this, although you will be transitioning
out after the elections a couple of weeks ago.
I would commend to all members to read the written
testimony, particularly the testimony of Dr. Hoxie and the
prior testimony a couple of years ago of Professor Campisi.
Because they clearly document what you would have used as a
basis for an administrative approval.
To the point that Chairman Godwin has made, they have been
there, they have done that, they have several tee-shirts. They
have not been successful.
This provides Congressional clarity, which also avoids the
inevitable lawsuit from anyone who may actually oppose it. So
you could actually find yourself with an administrative
approval and then years of costly litigation before this wrong
is righted. Would you agree with that, Secretary Newland?
Mr. Newland. Yes, Senator, I would.
Senator Tillis. Thank you.
Again, Chairman Schatz, thank you for your indulgence. You
and I have had several discussions over it, and Ranking Member
Murkowski, thank you all. I really do believe that this is not
an outlier. The only thing that is an outlier in this process
is the treatment of the Lumbee for the last 133 years. I
believe that there is a path to get it done. That is why I have
got on the bill, and that is why I am going to work 24/7 to get
it out of this Congress.
Thank you.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Tillis.
Mr. Newland, a lot of my questions were covered both by
your testimony and by the questions asked by members. But in
terms of building a record, I want to ask you a couple of
specific questions. How does each bill support Federal Indian
law and policy? Specifically, I am interested in how these
bills will strengthen the government-to-government relationship
and advance tribal self-determination and sovereignty.
Mr. Newland. Thank you, Chairman. I appreciate that.
With respect to S. 1364, the Lumbee Recognition Act, it
would advance the government-to-government relationship by
establishing and clarifying the sovereign status of the Lumbee
Tribe and affirming the government-to-government relationship
between the tribe and the United States.
With respect to the three land bills, one of the core
components of tribal sovereignty is to have a land base in
which to continue your tribal life ways and existence, whether
that is living together as a tribal people or having access and
protecting places that are integral to your religious and
cultural practices. It is a trust responsibility of the United
States to ensure that that happens.
So these bills, all three of these land bills would do just
that.
The Chairman. Thank you. Before turning finally to Vice
Chair Murkowski, I am going to ask for consent to permit
Senator Tillis and Senator Burr to provide additional materials
for the record from local officials in North Carolina on the
Lumbee matter.
The Chairman. Vice Chair Murkowski?
Senator Murkowski. Thank you.
Just one more question for you, Assistant Secretary
Newland. This relates to H.R. 2088. In your testimony, the
Department indicates it supports the bill because it would
restore tribal homelands. So the question is whether it is
possible, perhaps even common, for multiple tribes to claim
ancestral ties to the same lands, and if so, how does the
Department work through that?
Mr. Newland. Thank you, Vice Chairman Murkowski. We prefer
to not have to work through conflicts over land use, but it is
actually, as I am sure you are well aware in your home State,
quite common for many tribes to share ties certain areas
because they exercise treaty or subsistence rights, or it is a
sacred place to many tribes. It is not uncommon that you would
have more than one tribe claim an interest or cultural
importance for a particular site.
The idea way that we work through that at the Department of
the Interior is to sit down and speak with the leadership from
the tribes that have, I don't want to say competing claims and
interests in lands, but to work through that, and hope that we
can reach some kind of agreement on that. In cases where there
is disagreement, oftentimes the acquisition doesn't go forward.
In some cases, the particular merits of the tribe seeking
to have the land placed into trust are just stronger on the
facts. So the land might be within their reservation or
adjacent to their existing reservation.
But it is not an ideal situation when two or more tribes
are competing to have ownership over the same lands.
Senator Murkowski. I thank you for that. I raise the
question because I have been made aware that when it comes to
the legislation that I just referenced that there may be
additional ancestral claims to this particular land.
I would like to now direct a question to Chief Sneed from
the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, following this response
from Assistant Secretary Newland. The direct question is, are
you aware of other ancestral tribal claims to the land? First
question is to ask you if you are aware of additional claims,
ancestral claims to the land.
Mr. Sneed. Thank you for your question, Senator. Not at
this time. Historically Cherokee Nation weighed in, in the late
1970s, or I believe it was 1980, under Chief Ross Swimmer of
the Cherokee Nation, that the lands, while they were historic
Cherokee lands, that the lands in question did not have any
significance to the Cherokee Nation for religious, any sort of
religious connotation, which was what the lawsuit was about
back in the early 1980s.
Senator Murkowski. Thank you for that. I guess what I would
ask, and this is following your comments, Assistant Secretary,
is if there is a situation where this legislation would
inadvertently place land into trust that may be historically
tied to another tribe that there is that commitment to work
things out through the Department, that that is the process can
best navigate this.
I don't want to presuppose, but again, as I have looked at
this particular bill, it has been brought to my attention that
there may be additional claims to ancestral lands. So how you
navigate that, how you work through that, one would hope that
it would be on a cooperative basis, working with the tribes and
through the Department.
Mr. Sneed. Thank you, Vice Chairman. We would be happy to
speak with anybody from Indian Country who has interests in
these lands. I often say that some of the best diplomats in the
world are found in Indian Country, from having to manage
situations where people disagree over things like land use.
Senator Murkowski. Always complicated. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
The Chairman. It is a lot of nations.
If there are no further questions for our witnesses,
members may also submit follow-up written questions for the
record. The hearing record will be open for two weeks. I want
to thank all the witnesses for their time and their testimony
today. Thanks to the staff.
This hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:40 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
State of North Carolina Office of the Governor
June 23, 2021
Hon. Charles E. Schumer,
Majority Leader;
Hon. Mitch McConnell,
Minority Leader,
U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
Dear Majority Leader Schumer & Minority Leader McConnell:
I am writing to convey my strong support of full federal
recognition of the Lumbee Tribe. For far too long, the Lumbee Tribe has
been in pursuit of this recognition, and I am pleased that they enjoy
bipartisan support from leaders in North Carolina and our congressional
delegation in this endeavor.
In 1885, the Lumbee Tribe was officially recognized by the State of
North Carolina and began seeking federal recognition shortly
thereafter. However, they have been hindered by the Lumbee Act, signed
into law by President Eisenhower in 1956. This bill specifically denied
the Lumbee the services and benefits that every other federally
recognized tribe receives. It is past time that this injustice is
righted. Full federal recognition would allow members access to the
health care, education, housing, and childcare benefits they deserve,
and would create economic opportunities for the tribe and the
surrounding community.
The Lumbee Tribe has deep cultural roots in North Carolina. Its
contributions to the fabric of our state are vast and our fates are
inextricably linked. It is time for the Lumbee to enjoy the full
recognition of the United States Government, and the Senate has an
important opportunity to right this wrong.
With kind regards, I am very truly yours,
Hon. Roy Cooper, Governor.
[all]