Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-493_jgko.pdf
Page Number: 6.0

2 

YSLETA DEL SUR PUEBLO v. TEXAS 

Opinion of the Court 

I 
A 
The Ysleta del Sur Pueblo is one of three federally recog-
nized Indian Tribes in Texas.  Its reservation lies near El 
Paso,  and  the  Tribe  today  includes  over  4,000  enrolled
members.  See About Us, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo (June 2022), 
https://www.ysletadelsurpueblo.org/about-us.  The  Tribe 
traces its roots back to the 1680 Pueblo Revolt against the 
Spanish  in  New  Mexico.    In  the  revolt’s  aftermath,  the 
Spanish  retreated  from  Santa Fe  to  El  Paso,  and  a  large
number  of  Ysleta  Pueblo  Indians  accompanied  them.
S. Rep.  No.  100–90,  p.  6  (1987)  (Senate  Report);  W.  Tim-
mons, El Paso 18 (1990) (Timmons).  Soon, tribal members 
built the Ysleta Mission, the oldest church in Texas, and in 
1751 Spain granted 23,000 acres to the Tribe for its home-
land.  See Senate Report 6–7; Timmons 36.

Things  changed  for  the  Tribe  after  Texas  gained  state-
hood in 1845.  The State disregarded Spain’s land grant and 
began incorporating a town on tribal lands and issuing land 
patents to non-Indians.  Senate Report 6–7.  Over the years
that followed, the Tribe repeatedly lost lands “without rec-
ompense.”  Timmons  181.  Yet  some  tribal  members  re-
mained  on  parts  of  their  homeland,  “determin[ed]  to  pre-
serve [their] language, customs, and traditions.”  Ibid.  In 
the late 1890s, the Tribe adopted a constitution to ensure
“the survival of [its] ancient tribal organization.”  Ibid.  Af-
ter years of struggle, the Tribe also won formal recognition 
from Texas in 1967 and Congress the following year.  Id., at 
260–261.  In  its  1968  legislation,  Congress  assigned  its 
trust  responsibilities  for  the  Tribe  to  Texas.    82  Stat.  93. 
That  trust  relationship  was  important,  as  it  ensured  the
Tribe would retain the remaining 100 acres of land it pos-
sessed and gain access to certain tribal funding programs.
See Timmons 261; see also R. Chambers, Judicial Enforce-
ment  of  the  Federal  Trust  Responsibility  to  Indians,  27