Bill dissolving Tigua blood requirement advances
That’s some fascinating history. Pueblo Revolt of 1680The bill that would eliminate the one-eighth blood requirement and help preserve the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo cleared a hurdle in Congress on Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes said.
Reyes, D-Texas, authored the bill, H.R. 1560, which would eliminate the federal government’s blood requirement for members of the tribe.
The bill on Wednesday passed the House Natural Resources Committee and will now go to the speaker of the House for approval before it heads to the full House of Representative for a vote.
Reyes’ office said that of 565 federally recognized Native American tribes, the Tigua tribe, based in El Paso’s Lower Valley, is the only known tribe whose membership is dictated by the government instead of tribal customs, tradition and heritage.
“This is certainly good news not just for the Tigua but for the entire El Paso community,” Reyes said in a statement. “The Tigua have been an important part of El Paso del Norte even before the ratification of the Constitution, and this legislation will eliminate the government’s unfairly imposed membership requirements that threatened their survival.”
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The Ysleta del Sur Pueblo was established in the area that is now El Paso after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 in northern New Mexico.