We are pleased to share an important and encouraging update on our Tribe’s federal recognition process.

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Federal Acknowledgment (OFA) has issued a Phase I Technical Assistance (TA) letter, confirming that our Tribe successfully received no deficiencies for the first four criteria — §83.11(d)–(g) — of the federal acknowledgment process.

Phase I Criteria Successfully Met

OFA confirmed that there are NO deficiencies in the following areas:

  • §83.11(d) – Constitution and Governance
    Our governing documents and constitutional materials were properly submitted and accepted.
  • §83.11(e) – Documented Fernandeño Ancestry
    A majority of our Tribal Citizens have documented descent from Fernandeño ancestors associated with Mission San Fernando and surrounding land grants.
  • §83.11(f) – Unique Tribal Membership
    Our Tribal Citizens are not enrolled in other federally recognized tribes.
  • §83.11(g) – Congressional Status
    There is no congressional legislation that has terminated or forbidden a federal relationship with our Tribe.

About Previous Federal Acknowledgment (§83.12)
In our petition, we also sought to establish previous federal acknowledgment (§83.12). While OFA was not satisfied with the evidence presented for that specific claim, it is important to understand that §83.12 is optional and not required for federal recognition.

If we had successfully met §83.12, the Phase II review would only require meeting §83.11(b) – Community. Because §83.12 is optional, we may proceed fully under the standard acknowledgment criteria set forth in §83.11.

What Comes Next
This is a strong and encouraging step forward in our federal recognition journey. Our next step will be to formally request that OFA proceed to complete the Phase I Review and advance our petition into Phase II.

We remain committed to transparency and will continue to keep our Tribal Citizens informed as we move forward together.