[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 7 (Wednesday, February 2, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S285-S287]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BINGAMAN (for himself and Mr. Domenici):
  S. 2022. A bill to provide for the development of remedies to resolve 
unmet community land grant claims in New Mexico; to the Committee on 
Energy and Natural Resources.


               new mexico community land grant review act

 Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill, 
along with Senator Domenici, which will move us toward resolving a long 
standing issue of great controversy in my State of New Mexico.

  Today marks the anniversary of one of the most significant dates in 
the creation of modern America. On this date one hundred and fifty-two 
years ago, our government and the government of Mexico entered into an 
agreement which ended a bloody war, and which brought a huge swath of 
territory into the United States.
  The addition of this new territory, which became the American 
Southwest, forever changed the makeup of our nation, its place on the 
world stage, and its culture. The infusion of a large Hispanic 
population and a myriad of Native American communities into fabric of 
American society enriched the diversity of country and strengthened the 
dynamism of our culture.
  It is day which should be one for celebration. A day in which New 
Mexicans should reflect on the confluence of cultures which make up our 
state. It is a day to remember the sweat and grit of the people who 
traveled north up El Camino Real (the Royal Road) passing through one 
area that was so arduous that it was known as La Jornada del Muerte 
(the Journey of Death), and those who came west over the Santa Fe trail 
to reach New Mexico and who, together with the Pueblo, Apache, and 
Navajo peoples who had already carved a life out of this arid land, 
built our modern culture.
  It is a day for celebration, but unfortunately it is also a day which 
recalls great pain for many. For that agreement between nations which 
established the American Southwest, the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, 
also carried with it a promise to the new citizens of America. That 
promise was that their ownership of lands established under Spanish and 
Mexican law would be respected and validated by their new government. 
Many who would be celebrating today do not believe that that promise 
was kept. The serious questions that have been raised concerning the 
validation of Spanish and Mexican community land grant claims in New 
Mexico cast a cloud over this day, and a cloud over our national honor.
  Given the long history of dispute over community land grant claims in 
New Mexico, and the large amount of disputed land, a credible neutral 
analysis of the United States' implementation of the Treaty has been 
needed. To that end, Senator Domenici and I have requested that the 
General Accounting Office review the United States' legal obligations 
under the Treaty and whether the Federal government met those 
obligations with regard to community land grant claims.
  This will be the first national study of the issue, and it is 
overdue. Given how long it has taken for the heirs of these land grants 
to get a credible review of their claims, it is that important that 
this study not end up gathering dust on some shelf. If the GAO finds 
that the United States denied

[[Page S286]]

these communities their rights under the treaty, then it is imperative 
that the Federal government develop a remedy to resolve this issue.
  Therefore I, along with Senator Domenici, am introducing a bill today 
which will move us in that direction. This bill would require that, 
should the GAO find that the United States has failed to meet its 
Treaty obligations, the Justice Department prepare for the President a 
list of methods to remedy the problem, and that the President must 
propose to Congress his preferred remedy.
  Unlike the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, which was an agreement 
between nations, this bill represents a promise directly to land grant 
heirs that their claim will be fully considered by the United States 
Government. I hope we can pass this measure, and make that promise to 
them.
  Mr. President I ask that the bill be printed in the Record.
  The bill follows:

                                S. 2022

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``New Mexico Community Land 
     Grant Reivew Act.''

     SEC. 2. PURPOSE, DEFINITIONS, AND FINDINGS.

       (a) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to provide for the 
     development of potential remedies to resolve unmet 
     obligations by the United States with regard to community 
     land grant claims in New Mexico under the Treaty of 
     Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
       (b) Definitions.--As used in this Act:
       (1) Treaty of guadalupe--hidalgo.--The term ``Treaty of 
     Guadalupe-Hidalgo'' means the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, 
     Limits, and Settlement (Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo), between 
     the United States and the Republic of Mexico, signed February 
     2, 1848, with the amending Protocol of Queretaro signed May 
     26, 1848; entered into force on May 30, 1948 (TS 207; 9 
     Bevans 791).
       (2) Community land grant.--The term ``community land 
     grant'' means a village, town, settlement, or pueblo 
     consisting of land held in common (accompanied by lesser 
     private allotments) by three or more families under a grant 
     from the King of Spain (or his representative) before the 
     effective date of the Treaty of Cordova, August 24, 1821, or 
     from the authorities of the Republic of Mexico before May 30, 
     1848, in what became the State of New Mexico, regardless of 
     the original character of the grant.
       (3) Land grant claim.--The term ``land grant claim'' means 
     a claim to land owned by a community land grant.
       (4) GAO.--The term ``GAO'' means the United States General 
     Accounting Office.
       (c) Findings.--The Congress finds:
       (1) New Mexico has a unique and complex history regarding 
     land ownership due to the substantial number of land grants 
     awarded by the King of Spain and the Republic of Mexico as an 
     integral part of the colonization of New Mexico prior to 
     the takeover of the area by the United States under the 
     Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
       (2) Under the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, the United 
     States agreed to respect valid land grants claims.
       (3) Several studies, including the New Mexico Land Grant 
     Series published by the University of New Mexico, have called 
     into question whether the United States has fulfilled its 
     obligations under the Treaty. There continue to be claims 
     that citizens of the United States were illegally deprived of 
     the property rights protected by the Treaty of Guadalupe-
     Hidalgo through the actions of the Office of the Surveyor 
     General established in 1854, the Court of Private Land Claims 
     established in 1891, and the Territory of New Mexico.
       (4) There was a remarkable difference in outcomes between 
     the land claims adjudications in the State of California, 
     where approximately 73 percent of the claimed acreage was 
     confirmed, and the former Territory of New Mexico, where only 
     24 percent of the claimed acreage was confirmed. This 
     difference in outcomes raises serious questions as to whether 
     adjudications in New Mexico were equitably and fairly 
     administered.
       (5) Following the United States' war with Mexico and for 
     much of this century, the economy of New Mexico was dependent 
     on land resources. When the land grant claimants lost title 
     to their land, the predominantly Hispanic communities in New 
     Mexico lost a keystone to their economy, and the effects of 
     this loss had long lasting economic consequences for these 
     communities.
       (6) Whether the United States failed to meet its 
     obligations under the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo has been a 
     source of continuing controversy and has left a lingering 
     sense of injustice in some communities in New Mexico over the 
     last one-hundred and fifty years.
       (7) This issue, which regards the integrity of the United 
     States with regards to its international commitments and its 
     commitments to its citizenry, must be resolved.
       (8) The GAO has been requested to review how the United 
     States implemented the provisions of the Treaty of Guadalupe-
     Hidalgo which pertain to the protection of community land 
     grant claims New Mexico, and to provide a report to the 
     Congress and the President by December 31, 2002, which 
     includes an assessment of whether the procedures established 
     by the United States to implement the treaty appear to have 
     been adequate, and whether the community land grants claims 
     appear to have been equitably adjudicated.

     SEC. 3. DEVELOPMENT OF REMEDY RECOMMENDATIONS AND 
                   PRESIDENTIAL PROPOSAL.

       If the GAO concludes, in the report to Congress and the 
     President described in Section (2)(c)(8) of this Act, that 
     the obligations of the United States under the Treaty of 
     Guadalupe-Hidalgo regarding the protection of the community 
     land grant rights do not appear to have been met, the 
     Department of Justice shall prepare for the President a list 
     of alternative methods to remedy the problem. The President 
     shall then submit to Congress recommendations to resolve 
     these claims within six months of the submission of the GAO 
     report. In no event shall these recommendations include the 
     divestiture of private property rights.

 Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I am pleased to be joining 
Senator Bingaman in introducing legislation to help resolve whether the 
federal government inadequately implemented the Treaty of Guadalupe-
Hildalgo in New Mexico. Today is the 152d anniversary of the signing by 
the United States of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo with Mexico. Under 
this 1848 treaty, the United States acquired the territory that is now 
California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming. 
Unfortunately, the potential failure of this country to meet its 
obligations under the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hildalgo has been a source of 
continuing controversy, and many New Mexicans claim they were illegally 
deprived of property rights by the federal government. For example, in 
California, about seventy-three percent of land grant claims have been 
confirmed compared to only twenty-four percent in New Mexico, which 
raises questions as to whether adjudications in New Mexico were 
equitably and fairly administered.
  We must take the opportunity to reverse the heritage of ill-will 
between the Hispanic people of New Mexico and the Federal government. 
Hispanic descendants in our state have been waiting over 150 years to 
get the federal government to fairly look into the community land 
grants issue. In 1848, land grant claimants were led to believe that 
their property rights would be honored and protected, but they have 
repeatedly been frustrated by government officials. One Surveyor 
General for New Mexico has been described by historians as ``steeped in 
prejudice against New Mexico, its people and their property rights.'' 
Other opportunists used long legal battles to acquire empires that 
extended over millions of acres--all at the expense of local Hispanics.
  In 1891, the Surveyor General was replaced by the Court of Private 
Land Claims, but the court's procedures heavily favored the government. 
The Court of Claims required that claimants prove that the Spanish or 
Mexican granting official had the legal authority to issue the land 
grant. The claimants did not have access to necessary documentation, 
and often did not speak English. Consequently, the court rejected two-
thirds of the New Mexico claims presented before it. Ultimately, by one 
account written by Richard Griswold del Castillo, only eighty-two 
grants received Congressional confirmation. This represented only six 
percent of the total area sought by land claimants, leaving a bitter 
legacy.
  In the 105th Congress, Congressman Redmond was able to pass a bill 
out of the House of Representatives creating a Presidential Commission 
to evaluate the community land grants located in New Mexico. I was 
proud to introduce a companion bill, including a few changes based on 
the lessons I learned from talking to the heirs of some of the land 
grants; from reviewing the history; and from talking to scholars, 
historians and land grant lawyers.
  After hearings and continuing dialog with land grant heirs, we 
realized that the natural first step in the process was determining 
whether the grantees' rights had been violated under the Treaty. It 
became clear that adequate time for a thorough study of the issue was 
needed. Documents had to be gathered. Resolution of the dispute must 
take into account intervening legal rights.
  Last year, Senator Bingaman and I originally proposed that the 
Attorney General, acting through the Assistant

[[Page S287]]

Attorney General for Civil Rights, should investigate whether the 
United States properly implemented the provisions of the Treaty of 
Guadalupe-Hidalgo which pertain to the protection of valid land grant 
claims in New Mexico. If that investigation found that the federal 
government needed to rectify past abuses, the President would submit a 
proposal to Congress to resolve those claims. The Senate supported our 
desire last fall to include in the Commerce, Justice, State 
Appropriations bill the requirement that the Justice Department conduct 
such a study. However, the Justice Department objected on the grounds 
that it could not be a neutral examiner of the legal obligations of the 
United States in this situation.

  The General Accounting Office (GAO) was recommended by House 
appropriators as an alternative, and language directing GAO conduct a 
study was included in the original conference report for Department of 
Justice appropriations. However, that provision was written in the 
waning hours of the conference, without time for consultation with the 
GAO, and while the focus of the conference was turned to other matters. 
Consequently, we believed that language was inadequate to serve New 
Mexico's needs. At our request, the appropriations conferees removed 
the inadequate study language from the final version of the CJS 
conference report.
  I must say that I respectfully disagree with the Justice Department's 
contention that they could not properly conduct such a study. What 
better arm of the government should investigate whether the United 
States properly implemented the provisions of the Treaty of Guadalupe-
Hidalgo which pertain to the protection of valid land grant claims in 
New Mexico?
  Nonetheless, after meeting with top-level representatives at the 
Department of Justice, Senator Bingaman and I met with GAO's General 
Counsel Robert Murphy and Principal Assistant Comptroller General Gene 
Dodaro to craft language that more closely reflected the needs of New 
Mexico, and the capabilities of the GAO. We have formally asked GAO to 
review how the United States implemented the provisions of the Treaty 
of Guadalupe-Hidalgo which pertain to the protection of community land 
grant claims in New Mexico.
  The GAO will submit an interim report to the Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources and the Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate, 
and to the Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives and 
to the President of the United States, by the end of this year. A final 
report will be submitted by the end of 2002. This will allow the GAO 
adequate time to investigate this complicated issue.
  The report will include a description of the legal obligations of the 
United States to protect the rights of community land grants and its 
actions in carrying out the provisions of the treaty, an assessment of 
the issues raised concerning the implementation of the treaty 
provisions, and identification of potential methods of resolving any 
failure by the United States with regard to community land grant 
claims. The GAO shall also discuss the potential effects of resolution 
options on intervening legal rights and on Tribal land claims. In no 
event should any identification of remedies include divestiture of 
private property rights.
  The bill we introduce today directs that if the GAO concludes that 
the obligations of the United States under the Treaty of Guadalupe-
Hidalgo regarding the protection of the community land grant rights do 
not appear to have been met, the Department of Justice shall prepare 
for the President a list of alternative methods to remedy the problem. 
The President will then submit to Congress recommendations to resolve 
these claims within six months of the submission of the GAO report. 
Again, we also wish to ensure that no recommendations include the 
potential divestiture of private property rights. We do not wish to 
transplant one potential injustice with another.
  Trying to do justice 150 years after the fact is complicated. I am 
hopeful that this bill can address what has been, for too long, a tale 
of land loss and bitterness between the United States and some of its 
New Mexico citizens.
                                 ______