Final Determination
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Juanefio Band of Mission Indians (Petitioner #84B) Final Detennination Final Detennination Against Acknowledgment of The Juanefio Band of Mission Indians (Petitioner #84B) Prepared in Response to the petition Submitted to the Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs for Federal Acknowledgment as an Indian Tribe MAR 15 2011 (Date) ~a-w-k- Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Juaneño Band of Mission Indians (Petitioner #84B) Final Determination Final Determination The Juaneño Band of Mission Indians (Petitioner #84B) TABLE OF CONTENTS ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................... iii INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 Summary of the Proposed Finding ..........................................................................1 Administrative History of the Petition since the Proposed Finding ........................3 OVERVIEW OF THE HISTORICAL INDIAN TRIBE .....................................................4 UNAMBIGUOUS PREVIOUS FEDERAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT ...............................8 CONCLUSIONS UNDER THE CRITERIA (25 CFR 83.7) ............................................11 Criterion 83.7(a) .....................................................................................................14 Criterion 83.7(b) ....................................................................................................28 Criterion 83.7(c) .....................................................................................................56 Criterion 83.7(d) ....................................................................................................73 Criterion 83.7(e) .....................................................................................................74 Criterion 83.7(f) .....................................................................................................91 Criterion 83.7(g) ....................................................................................................92 i Juaneño Band of Mission Indians (Petitioner #84B) Final Determination SUPPORTING MATERIALS Appendices I. JBA SJC Indian Ancestors with Members Claiming Descent ...................93 II. Evaluation of Claimed Historical SJC Indian Ancestors not Verified in the PF .......................................................................................94 III. Analysis of Various Lists Included in the “Chief Clarence Lobo Collection” ...............................................................................................107 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................108 ii Juaneño Band of Mission Indians (Petitioner #84B) Final Determination ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS AS-IA Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs BIA Bureau of Indian Affairs BLUC The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley CA California CDIB Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood CIC Capistrano Indian Council CFR Code of Federal Regulations DOI Department of the Interior ECCP Early California Population Project, the Huntington Library FD Final Determination FAIR Federal Acknowledgment Information Resource FR Federal Register FTM Family Tree MakerTM IBIA Interior Board of Indian Appeals JBA Juaneño Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation (Petitioner #84A) JBB Juaneño Band of Mission Indians (Petitioner #84B) JBM Juaneño Band of Mission Indians JBMI-IP Juaneño Band of Mission Indians, Interested Party JPA California Cities for Self-Reliance/Joint Powers Authority LCI League of California Indians MIF Mission Indian Federation OFA Office of Federal Acknowledgment PF Proposed Finding SCA Stand Up for California SG San Gabriel SJC San Juan Capistrano SLR San Luis Rey TA Technical Assistance Review Letter U. S. United States iii JuaneñoBand of Mission Indians (Petitioners #84B) Final Determination Overview of the Historical Indian Tribe INTRODUCTION The Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs (Assistant Secretary or AS-IA) within the Department of the Interior (Department or DOI) issues this final determination (FD) in response to the petition received from a group known as the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians (JBB) (Petitioner #84B), whose offices are located in Santa Ana, California. The JBB petitioned for Federal acknowledgment as an Indian tribe under Part 83 of Title 25 of the Code of Federal Regulations (25 CFR Part 83), Procedures for Establishing that an American Indian Group Exists as an Indian Tribe. The acknowledgment regulations, 25 CFR Part 83, establish the procedures by which groups may seek Federal acknowledgment as an Indian tribe entitled to a government-to-government relationship with the United States. To be entitled to such a political relationship, a petitioner must submit documentary evidence that the group meets all seven mandatory criteria set forth in section 83.7 of the regulations. The Department shall acknowledge the petitioner as an Indian tribe if it determines that the group satisfies all of the criteria in 83.7(a-g), and shall decline to acknowledge a petitioner as an Indian tribe if it does not. The Office of Federal Acknowledgment (OFA), within the Office of the AS-IA, has responsibility for petition review and analysis. This FD concludes the JBB petitioner does not meet four of the seven mandatory criteria for Federal acknowledgment—criteria 83.7(a), 83.7(b), 83.7(c), and 83.7(e)—and therefore is not an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law. Since all criteria are mandatory, the Department declines to acknowledge the JBB petitioner. The Department bases this FD on an evaluation of materials that the petitioner and third parties submitted in response to, and materials already in the record for, the PF. The FD also incorporates evidence that the Department’s researchers developed during their verification research. Therefore, this FD should be read in conjunction with the PF. Summary of the Proposed Finding On December 3, 2007, the Department issued a proposed finding (PF), signed by the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, that concluded that JBB petitioner did not meet all seven mandatory criteria and proposed not to acknowledge the group as an Indian tribe. The JBB petitioner did not meet criteria (a), (b), (c), and (e). The JBB petitioner claims to have descended as a group from the historical Indians at San Juan Capistrano (SJC) Mission. The PF concluded that an Indian entity, consisting of Indian tribes or groups that had combined, existed at or near the Mission between 1776 and 1834. However, evidence for the purpose of this petition indicates that, after 1834, only a small number of SJC Indian descendants remained in the area. The JBB petitioner claims that these descendants of the 1 JuaneñoBand of Mission Indians (Petitioners #84B) Final Determination Overview of the Historical Indian Tribe historical SJC Indians are the ancestors of the JBB petitioner’s members and that the JBB petitioner has existed continuously since that time as a distinct social and political community of descendants of the historical Indian tribe at SJC Mission. The PF found that the JBB petitioner did not meet criteria 83.7(a), (b), (c), or (e). Evidence in the record did not demonstrate that external observers identified the JBB petitioner or a group antecedent to the petitioner as an Indian entity on a substantially continuous basis from 1900 to 1997. The PF concluded that evidence in the record did not demonstrate that the JBB petitioner evolved as a distinct community from the historical Indian tribe that existed at SJC Mission in 1834. Also, the PF concluded that the evidence was insufficient to establish that a predominant portion of the JBB petitioner’s members or their ancestors comprised a community distinct from non-members at any time since 1834. The evidence in the record did not demonstrate that the JBB petitioner or any group antecedent to the petitioner maintained political influence or authority over its members from 1834 until the present. The PF found that 4 percent of the 908 JBB members documented that they are descendants of a historical SJC Indian, but that another 14 percent of the JBB members might be able to demonstrate descent from at least one member of the historical SJC tribe at SJC Mission if additional genealogical evidence demonstrated the claimed connections. No previous petitioner has met criterion 83.7(e) without at least 80 percent of its members documenting descent from a historical Indian tribe. The PF found that the JBB petitioner did not meet all seven mandatory criteria and the Department proposed not to acknowledge the group as an Indian tribe. Regulatory Procedures Publishing notice of the PF in the Federal Register initiated a 180-day comment period beginning on December 3, 2007, during which time the petitioner and interested and informed parties could submit arguments and evidence to support or rebut the PF. The petitioner requested and the Department provided a series of extensions for good cause that eventually extended the deadline for the comment period to March 13, 2009. The regulations at 25 CFR 83.10(k) provide the petitioner a minimum of 60 days to respond to any comments that interested and informed parties submit on the PF during the 180-day comment period. The petitioner also requested, and the Department provided, an extension for good cause that extended the deadline for the response period to September 11, 2009. After the publication