[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 54 (Monday, March 21, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15337-15338]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-6470]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs


Final Determination Against Acknowledgment of the Juane[ntilde]o 
Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Final Determination.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Interior (Department) gives notice that 
the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs (AS-IA) has determined the 
petitioner known as the Juane[ntilde]o Band of Mission Indians, 
Acjachemen Nation, is not an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal 
law. This notice is based on a determination that the petitioner does 
not satisfy all seven of the criteria set forth in the applicable 
regulations, and therefore, does not meet the requirements for a 
government-to-government relationship with the United States.

DATES: This determination is final and will become effective 90 days 
from publication of this notice in the Federal Register on June 20, 
2011, unless the petitioner or an interested party files within 90 days 
a request for reconsideration before the Interior Board of Indian 
Appeals pursuant to 25 CFR 83.11.

ADDRESSES: Requests for a copy of the final determination that includes 
the summary evaluation under the criteria should be addressed to the 
Office of the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs, Attention: Office of 
Federal Acknowledgment, 1951 Constitution Avenue, NW., MS: 34B-SIB, 
Washington, DC 20240, and is available at http://www.bia.gov/WhoWeAre/AS-IA/OFA/RecentCases/index.htm.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: R. Lee Fleming, Director, Office of 
Federal Acknowledgment, (202) 513-7650.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to 25 CFR 83.10(h), the Department 
publishes this notice that the Juane[ntilde]o Band of Mission Indians, 
Acjachemen Nation (JBA), Petitioner 84A, is not an Indian 
tribe within the meaning of Federal law. The Department issued a 
proposed finding (PF) to decline to acknowledge the petitioner on 
November 23, 2007, and published notice of that preliminary 
determination in the Federal Register on December 3, 2007. This final 
determination (FD) affirms the PF that the Juane[ntilde]o Band of 
Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation (JBA), c/o Anthony Rivera, Jr., 
31411-A La Matanza Street, San Juan Capistrano, California 92675-2674, 
does not satisfy all seven of the criteria set forth in part 83 of 
title 25 of the Code of Federal Regulations (25 CFR part 83), 
specifically criteria at 83.7(a), 83.7(b), 83.7(c), and 83.7(e), and 
therefore does not meet the requirements for a government-to-government 
relationship with the United States.
    The acknowledgment process is based on the regulations at 25 CFR 
part 83. Under these regulations, the petitioner has the burden to 
present evidence that it meets the seven mandatory criteria in section 
83.7. The JBA petitioner does not satisfy criteria 83.7(a), 83.7(b), 
83.7(c), and 83.7(e). The JBA petitioner meets the requirements of 
criteria 83.7(d), 83.7(f), and 83.7(g).
    Criterion 83.7(a) requires that external observers have identified 
the petitioner as an American Indian entity on a substantially 
continuous basis since 1900. The evidence in the record does not 
demonstrate that external observers identified the petitioner, or a 
group from which the petitioner evolved, as an American Indian entity 
on a substantially continuous basis from 1900 to 1997. There are 
identifications of the JBA petitioner as an American Indian entity 
between 1997 and 2005. Because the petitioner, or a group from which 
the petitioner has evolved, has not been identified as an American 
Indian entity on a substantially continuous basis since 1900, the 
petitioner does not meet the requirements of criterion 83.7(a).
    Criterion 83.7(b) requires that a predominant portion of the 
petitioning group has comprised a distinct community from historical 
times to the present. The evidence in the record demonstrates that the 
JBA petitioner did not evolve from the historical SJC Indian tribe as a 
distinct community. The FD concludes that evidence in the record 
indicates that a community of SJC Indians persisted around and at the 
former SJC Mission until 1862, when a smallpox epidemic killed almost 
half the estimated Indian population (88 of 200) in a period of less 
than 3 months. No evidence in the record indicates that the community 
was able to recover from this event. The petitioner, as it is currently 
constituted, consists of members whose ancestors functioned as part of 
the general population of SJC residents since the mid-19th century. 
There is no evidence in the record that the petitioner's SJC Indian 
ancestors were distinct within this community after 1862, or were part 
of an Indian entity that evolved from the SJC Indian tribe in 1834; 
rather they appear to have been Indian individuals who became absorbed 
into the general, ethnically-mixed population of Old Mexican/Californio 
families, as well as with non-SJC Indians who moved to the town prior 
to 1900. The totality of the evidence does not demonstrate that the 
petitioner's mid-19th century ancestors formed a distinct SJC Indian 
community within a larger Spanish-speaking, Catholic, Old Mexican/
Californio community after 1862, nor does it demonstrate that the 
petitioner's SJC Indian ancestors formed a distinct community from 
which the current JBA petitioner evolved since 1862. Therefore, the JBA 
petitioner does not meet the requirements of criterion 83.7(b).
    Criterion 83.7(c) requires that the petitioning group has 
maintained political influence over its members as an autonomous entity 
from historical times to the present. The evidence submitted for the 
FD, in combination with the evidence already in the record for the PF, 
is insufficient to satisfy the requirements of criterion 83.7(c) for 
any time from 1835 to the present. The petitioner's comments on the PF 
did not provide evidence sufficient to satisfy the requirements of 
criterion 83.7(c) and new documents related to Clarence Lobo's 
leadership between the late 1940s and 1965 provided little information 
on the political composition of the group or a bilateral relationship 
between leaders and members. Third party comments included in the 
record largely agree with the conclusions reached in the PF, and the 
responses offered by the petitioner provide little new information 
regarding the political authority and influence in the group over time. 
After 1834, there is insufficient evidence that there were any internal 
processes or other mechanisms that the group used as a means of 
influencing or controlling the behavior of its members in significant 
respects, or made decisions for the group which substantially affected 
its members, or represented the group in dealing with outsiders in 
matters of consequence. Therefore, the petitioner

[[Page 15338]]

does not meet the requirements of criterion 83.7(c).
    Criterion 83.7(d) requires that the petitioner provide a copy of 
its governing document including its membership criteria. The 
petitioner submitted a copy of its governing document which includes 
its membership criteria. Therefore, the JBA petitioner meets the 
requirements of criterion 83.7(d).
    Criterion 83.7(e) requires that the petitioner's members descend 
from a historical Indian tribe or from historical Indian tribes which 
combined and functioned as a single autonomous political entity. The 
March 12, 2009, JBA membership list includes 1,940 living members, both 
adults and minors. The evidence in the record indicates that all of the 
petitioner's members claim descent from individuals who were members of 
the historical Indian tribe at SJC Mission as it existed between 1776 
and 1834. However, the FD finds that only 61 percent (1,182 of 1,940) 
of JBA members have demonstrated such descent. The petitioner has not 
demonstrated for this FD that its members descend from an historical 
Indian tribe. Therefore, the JBA petitioner does not meet the 
requirements of criterion 83.7(e).
    Criterion 83.7(f) requires that the petitioner's membership be 
composed principally of persons who are not members of another 
federally recognized Indian tribe. A review of the membership rolls of 
those Indian tribes in California that would most likely include the 
JBA petitioner's members revealed that the petitioner's membership is 
composed principally of persons who are not members of any federally 
acknowledged North American Indian tribe. Therefore, the JBA petitioner 
meets the requirements of criterion 83.7(f).
    Criterion 83.7(g) requires that the petitioner not be subject to 
congressional legislation that has terminated or forbidden the Federal 
relationship. A review of the available documentation showed no 
evidence that the petitioning group was the subject of congressional 
legislation to terminate or prohibit a Federal relationship as an 
Indian tribe. Therefore, the JBA petitioner meets the requirements of 
criterion 83.7(g).
    Based on this final determination, the Department determines not to 
extend Federal acknowledgement as an Indian tribe to the petitioner 
known as the Juane[ntilde]o Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation 
(JBA).
    A copy of the FD that includes the summary evaluation under the 
criteria and summarizes the evidence, reasoning, and analyses that are 
the basis for the FD will be provided to the petitioner and interested 
parties, and is available to other parties upon written request. It 
will be posted on the Bureau of Indian Affairs Web site http://www.bia.gov/WhoWeAre/AS-IA/OFA/RecentCases/index.htm. Requests for a 
copy of the FD should be addressed to the Federal Government as 
instructed in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.
    After the publication of notice of the FD in the Federal Register, 
the petitioner or any interested party may file a request for 
reconsideration with the Interior Board of Indian Appeals (IBIA) under 
the procedures set forth in section 83.11 of the regulations. The IBIA 
must receive this request no later than 90 days after the publication 
of the FD in the Federal Register. The FD will become effective as 
provided in the regulations 90 days from the Federal Register 
publication unless a request for reconsideration is received within 
that time.

    Dated: March 15, 2011.
Larry Echo Hawk,
Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2011-6470 Filed 3-18-11; 8:45 am]
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