U.S. House passes Albuquerque Indian School Act

A measure to return three tracts of land from the former Albuquerque Indian School campus to a trust for New Mexico’s 19 Pueblos passed the U.S. House this week and advanced to its first U.S. Senate Committee.

The federal legislation, titled the Albuquerque Indian School Act, would transfer 10 acres of a former boarding school to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, which provides a museum, cultural programming and events serving the state’s 19 Pueblos. Monique Fragua (Jemez Pueblo), the president and CEO of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, said the land would be used for an entrepreneur complex, and would also include light industry and manufacturing spaces.

Lead sponsor U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, who represents New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District, issued a statement noting that this week’s congressional actions brought the delegation “one step closer” to making the transfer “a reality.”

The bill received a hearing Wednesday in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, during which co-sponsor U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) expressed his support for the bill. The committee has not yet scheduled a vote on the bill.

Albuquerque Indian School was part of a network of federally run schools that removed more than 18,000 Native American children from their families between 1819 and 1969. Children faced forced labor, assimilation, abuse and death. Zuni, Navajo and Apache children were buried in unmarked graves in Albuquerque. The Albuquerque Indian School closed in the 1980s.

Members of New Mexico’s U.S. Congressional delegation said the return of land is more than just a land transfer.

“It is about putting a small but important piece of land back where it belongs — with New Mexico’s 19 Pueblos,” lead sponsor U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) said in a statement. “The development of these under-utilized parcels of land will create jobs, foster entrepreneurship, and expand business services for Pueblo communities and the broader public.”

In a statement, co-sponsor U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, who represents New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District, said the land transfer transforms “a painful history into a future built on cultural sovereignty, opportunity, and respect.”