BILLS PROPOSE ADDING 172 ACRES IN TRUST FOR JAMUL INDIAN VILLAGE

By Miriam Raftery

July 16, 2024 (Jamul)—The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs heard impassioned testimony on July 11 from  Jamul tribal chairwoman Erica Pinto, speaking in favor of S. 3857,the Jamul Indian Land Transfer Act authored by California Senator Alex Padilla. The measure would place in trust four land parcels totaling 172 acres into the Jamul Indian Village reservation, lands that the tribal chairwoman says are needed for tribal members' housing, reuniiting a scattered community, protecting cultural resources, and providing services for tribal members,such as healthcare and education.

The bill is identical to H.R. 6443, Rep. Darrell Issa’s bill which has already passed the House of Representatives.

But the measures have drawn opposition from the Jamul-Dulzura Community Planning Group, which was not consulted about the measures and was not allowed to present testimony at the July 11 hearing. THE JDCPG Chair sent a letter to the Committee on Indian Affairs Chairman and the authors of both bills outlining the planning group's concerns including whether commercial development could occur, as well as objections over the land transfer process bypassing local input.

Pinto’s plea for her people

“In short, the Tribe desperately needs additional trust lands so that it may preserve and protect its cultural sites, and develop housing for its members, a health clinic, a grocery store, Tribal administrative offices, law enforcement, educational services, and other community resources in service of the Tribe’s members,”  Chairwoman Pinto testified.

She concluded, “By passage of S. 3857, the federal government would be helping the Tribe to honor its ancestors and their sacrifices in order to remain and prosper in the place that we have always called home.”  Read her full prepared statement.

She outlined a detailed history of the tribe’s challenges and ordeals since the Spaniards enslaved tribal members to build the missions and later, losing their lands when the U.S. acquired California from Mexico.

History

The tribe’s reservation of just over six acres is one of the smallest in the U.S.  Part of the Kumeyaay nation also known as Diegueño Indians under control by the Spanish Mission, Jamul tribal members have resided in the Jamul area for countless generations; Spanish records document an Indian settlement in Jamul in 1776. After the U.S. acquired California from Mexico, it doled out land grants to Mexican citizens who remained in California, leaving the Jamul tribe landless.  In 1891 Congress  passed the Mission Indians Indian Relief Act and appointed the Smiley Commission to survey and select reservation lands for each band or village of Mission Indians. But the lone commissioner failed to visit any areas south of I-8, so the Jamul band was ignored.

The Jamul Native Americans, however, stayed on their ancestral land and cemetery granted to the Catholic Diocese, which built a church and provided some protection for a small Indian village.In 1908, C..E.Kelsey, a special agent appointed by the federal government to investigate conditions for landless Indians, described California’s landless tribal members as “robbed, starving, helpless people” for whom money intended for support had been appropriated. But the federal government focused its efforts on helping homeless Indians, again ignoring the Jamul people living on then-private land.  It wasn’t until 1981 that the Tribe was formally organized under the Indian Reorganization Act and granted trust lands for a reservation of  4.66 acres; the Jamul Indian Village was provided another1.37 acres in 1982, bringing the total to just over 6 acres.

Seeking economic development, the tribal majority opted to build a casino which opened in 2016, followed by a rooftop event/entertainment venue. A handful of tribal members opposed to the casino construction were displaced against their will, while the majority of tribal members voluntarily moved off the reservation in order for the tribe to build economic prosperity. The tribe is now building a  hotel on its original reservation land, in addition to the casino.

Jamul Indian Village has been purchasing land near its reservation in hopes of bringing those properties into trust, to bring its scattered tribal members back onto reservation lands and create a tribal community.

Parcels proposed for inclusion into Jamul's reservation

S. 3857 would, if passed by the Senate and signed by President Joe Biden, bring four parcels into trust for the reservation:

Parcel 1:  161.23 acres near the reservation within ancestral lands including the former Simpson’s nursery and Barrett House sites. According to Pinto, the tribe wants to build housing for tribal members, as well as tribal administrative offices,a health clinic, child-care center, tribal educational services, a community center, law enforcement offices and other community resources to support cultural and community restoration.

Parcel 2:  6 acres about 1,000 feet north of the reservation, which the tribe says it would use for essential services and community resources to tribal members.

Parcel 3:  This parcel is just over 4 acres known as the Daisy Drive property on a former fire station site. Daisy Drive runs through the site and provides the only access to the tribe’s reservation, church and ancestral cemetery; the tribe indicates it needs this to preserve access to its reservation and cultural landmarks.

Parcel 4: Just under an acre, this parcel has the historical church and ancestral cemetery which the tribe hopes to place in trust to preserve it for future generations. The tribe is also proposing a separate land swap of approximately an acre to expand its cemetery in trade for giving wildlife habitat to the federal government.

Pinto promises lands would be used only for housing, tribal services and cultural resources; bill prohibits gambling

“The Tribe will use this land solely for the purposes described above ,in an effort to protect the cultural identity, resources and history of the Tribe,” Chairwoman Pinto’s statement indicates.

S.3857 prohibits these lands from being used for gaming, so no casinos or other gambling establishments could be built there.

Planning group raises concerns over potential commercial development, bypassing of community input

The bill does not expressly prohibit other commercial development, raising concerns among some community members over the potential for entertainment or other commercial uses in the future unless an amendment is added to prohibit such development.

The local planning group also objects to the process and opposes the Land Transfer Act as a means of land trust acquisition.  Instead, the JDCPG Chair Kevin May,in a letter to Senator Brian Schaltz, Chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, says there is a federally recognized process through the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Dept. of the Interior for handling land to trust applications which “will engage the local community and the County Board of Supervisors in resolving land use issues, jurisdictional conflicts and provide the planning and resources to ensure public safety as our community expands with commercial entertainment venues by the Jamul Casino.”

Concerns cited by the JDCPG include that the parcels are not contiguous and that the tribe began buying up parcels after defaulting on debts and ousting Penn National Gaming, which owns a 101-acre parcel that is contiguous to the reservation. A letter to Rep. Issa further asks, ”Will event centers and entertainment venues and other commercial ventures be permissible on these parcels?”

May also cites an increase in traffic on State Route 94, with an average of 13,039 daily trips attributed to casino traffic,,and notes that the Tribe has not completed some of the mitigation required by an Intergovernmetnal Agreement in 2016 when the casino was built.

The Senate committee did not yet vote on the bill.  A call by ECM to Senator Padilla’s office asking for clarification on potential commercial uses of the lands has not yet been returned.

The JDCPG has asked community members to write to Senator Padilla,  members of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, to Rep. Issa, and Supervisor Joel Anderson. Residents are also encouraged to attend JDCPG meetings to have their voices heard.  To join their email list, contact jdcpgsecretary2@gmail.com.

Issa statement on his measure

Issa issued this statement upon House passage of his bill. “The Jamul Indian Village has endeavored for years to facilitate the best ways for tribal members to move onto reservation land in order to raise their families, preserve their native culture, and honor tribal customs and practices. This fee-to-trust bill grants this historic tribe an opportunity to do just that. By placing Jamul’s land into trust, our legislation safeguards the reservation, its sacred sites,and Kumeyaay traditions so they will endure far into the future.”