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Floor Speech

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Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, I rise to introduce the bipartisan Pala Band of Mission Indians Land Transfer Act to place roughly 700 acres of sacred lands into trust for the benefit of the Pala Band of Mission Indians. The lands in this bill, which are adjacent to the Tribe's existing reservation, include sacred sites, ancient rock art, and Tribal artifacts. Placing these lands into trust would protect the Pala Band's sacred lands and allow them to safeguard their culture and traditions as their ancestors have done since time immemorial.

Our bill would place 721 acres of land in San Diego County, which the Tribe has already purchased, into trust for the Pala Band of Mission Indians. Doing so would allow the Pala Band to preserve their traditions and better steward their sacred sites for generations to come.

Members of the Pala Band of Mission Indians descend from the Cupeno and Luiseno Tribes. The Cupenos lived in the valley of San Jose de Valle for generations until they were expelled from their ancestral homelands by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1901. The Tribe was forcibly relocated to Pala, CA, onto a Luiseno reservation. Over a century later, the Pala Band considers themselves one proud people with over 900 Tribal members.

In 2016, the Tribe purchased the lands covered by our bill in order to prevent the construction of a landfill on their sacred lands, known to the Tribe as ``Chokla.'' This bill would enable the Federal Government to fulfill its trust obligation by providing permanent protection for the Pala Band's ancestral and cultural sites.

I thank Senator Feinstein for introducing this legislation with me in the Senate and Congressman Issa and Congressman Vargas for leading this effort in the House of Representatives. I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact this bill as quickly as possible. ______

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