Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 114 Part 3.djvu/792

 114 STAT. 1890 PUBLIC LAW 106-425—NOV. 1, 2000 Nov. 1, 2000 [S. 2917] Public Law 106-425 106th Congress An Act To settle the land claims of the Pueblo of Santo Domingo. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of Santo Domingo the United States of America in Congress assembled, Pueblo Claims Settlement Act of SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 2000. Native This Act may be cited as the "Santo Domingo Pueblo Claims Americans. Settlement Act of 2000". New Mexico. 25 USC 1777 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. note. 25 USC 1777. (a) FINDINGS. —Congress makes the following findings: (1) For many years the Pueblo of Santo Domingo has been asserting claims to lands within its aboriginal use area in north central New Mexico. These claims have been the subject of many lawsuits, and a number of these claims remain unresolved. (2) In December 1927, the Pueblo Lands Board, acting pursuant to the Pueblo Lands Act of 1924 (43 Stat. 636) confirmed a survey of the boundaries of the Pueblo of Santo Domingo Grant. However, at the same time the Board purported to extinguish Indian title to approximately 27,000 acres of lands within those grant boundaries which lay within 3 other overlapping Spanish land grants. The United States Court of Appeals in United States v. Thompson (941 F.2d 1074 (10th Cir. 1991), cert, denied 503 U.S. 984 (1992)), held that the Board "ignored an express congressional directive" in section 14 of the Pueblo Lands Act, which "contemplated that the Pueblo would retain title to and possession of all overlap land". (3) The Pueblo of Santo Domingo has asserted a claim to another 25,000 acres of land based on the Pueblo's purchase in 1748 of the Diego Gallegos Grant. The Pueblo possesses the original deed reflecting the purchase under Spanish law but, after the United States assumed sovereignty over New Mexico, no action was taken to confirm the Pueblo's title to these lands. Later, many of these lands were treated as public domain, and are held today by Federal agencies, the State Land Commission, other Indian tribes, and private parties. The Pueblo's lawsuit asserting this claim, Pueblo of Santo Domingo v. Rael (Civil No. 83 -1888 (D.N.M.)), is still pending. (4) The Pueblo of Santo Domingo's claims against the United States in docket No. 355 under the Act of August 13, 1946 (60 Stat. 1049; commonly referred to as the Indian Claims Commission Act) have been pending since 1951. These claims include allegations of the Federal misappropriation and

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