Fort Sill Apache Tribe Sues New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez in New Mexico Supreme Court

AKELA, N.M., March 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly one year after the New Mexico Supreme Court unanimously ruled to force Governor Susana Martinez to recognize the Fort Sill Apache Tribe (FSA) as a New Mexico Tribe, the tribe again has returned to the Court to ask that the Governor be compelled to follow New Mexico State Law.

Late last week, FSA filed a lawsuit against Governor Susana Martinez and her administration in the New Mexico Supreme Court requesting she comply with the State Compact Negotiation Act and sign two Class III gaming compacts it had submitted to her in 2013. A copy of the lawsuit can be found here.

"It has become urgent that these compacts are signed now that the Administration has become openly opposed to our return, authoring a new compact that explicitly prevents our tribe from participating," said Jeff Haozous, Chairman of the Fort Sill Apache Tribe.

The window of eligibility for the Tribe to sign onto the existing compacts expires in June 2015. A new compact recently submitted by the Governor to the New Mexico State Legislature includes language that specifically excludes FSA. If the proposed Compact is approved by the legislature, FSA could be denied the ability to offer Class III gaming on its sole and federally recognized reservation in southwest New Mexico.

"The Governor is required by law to sign the Tribe's proposed compacts," said Chairman Haozous. "It is unfortunate that the Administration's continued discrimination against our tribe has once again forced us to turn to the Court for relief. We may be the smallest tribe in the state, but our rights are equal to every other tribe and pueblo. Until this administration recognizes and respects this fact, we will not rest."

The Fort Sill Apache Tribe is the successor to the Chiricahua & Warm Springs Apache Tribes. In 1886, they were taken as prisoners of war by the U.S. Army and removed from their homelands of southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona to Florida, Alabama and Oklahoma, where they were released. They organized as the Fort Sill Apache Tribe after a Federal Court affirmed their claim for the loss of over 14.8 million acres of their homeland. The Tribe has always maintained both its independence as Chiricahua – Warm Springs Apaches and its desire to return to its rightful home. After receiving an invitation from the Governor of New Mexico in 1995 and again in 2000 to return to New Mexico, the Tribe purchased the property at Akela Flats in 1998. It was made tribal trust land in 2002 and designated a Reservation in November 2011.

For more information and updates on the Tribe, please follow us on Twitter (@FortSillApache) and Facebook (Fort Sill Apache Tribe New Mexico).

SOURCE Fort Sill Apache Tribe (FSA)