Indian Nations, Tribes, and Pueblos of New Mexico
Indian Nations, Tribes, and Pueblos of New Mexico
Democrats recognize and respect tribal sovereignty and acknowledge the fundamental Trust Responsibility of the United States government to American Indian and Alaska Native People and tribal governments as grounded and embedded in treaties, laws, and court decisions. Democrats will work to promote positive government-to-government relations and effective collaboration between the state and Indian Nations, Tribes, and Pueblos. Democrats will honor, strengthen, and fulfill the sovereign, inherent rights of Tribes and Pueblos in New Mexico. Democrats will work to enact laws, policies, and political processes that are led and informed by the Tribes and Pueblos of New Mexico. Democrats will work to ensure that New Mexico Tribes and Pueblos have access to clean air, land, and water; and will consistently defend their sovereign rights to regain, maintain, and protect their natural and cultural resources, sacred sites, economic interests, cultural identity, Indigenous languages, and rights to self-determination.
We Affirm
1. To respect and honor the history of the Tribes and Pueblos of New Mexico, understand their unique political,
economic, social, cultural strengths and challenges, and recognize their contributions to the growth, advancement,
and development of our state; and
2. All levels of state and local government work with Tribes and Pueblos to develop formal and informed processes
whereby tribal leadership and stakeholders can exercise their right to self-determination and are given
opportunities to collaborate in developing and enacting laws and policies that affect them; and
3. To actively recruit and engage members of our State’s Tribes and Pueblos and other American Indians and Alaska
Natives into the Democratic Party of New Mexico and ensure equitable participation in all Party proceedings and
leadership roles; and
4. To work with and invest in tribal communities to provide voter outreach, voting access, and education to eliminate
voter suppression and discrimination and increase awareness of their voting rights and responsibilities and
encourage their participation in the election process; and
5. To acknowledge the sovereignty of Indigenous Nations; the principles of self-determination and governance; the
relations and connections to lands, sacred sites and cultural resources, and the sacredness of language which is
critical to self-governance.
We Will
1. Recognize, honor, and protect the sovereignty and capacity for self-governance of the Tribes and Pueblos of New
Mexico; and
2. Begin all Democratic Party of New Mexico events and proceedings with a land acknowledgment; and
3. Ensure all Native constituents have a mailing address to receive a voting ballot and have equal access to polling
locations; and
4. Support and assist New Mexico Tribes and Pueblos in obtaining sufficient and meaningful resources to bolster
and strengthen economic development and self-determination in sustainable and culturally sensitive ways; this
includes access to the basic social determinants of health, sound infrastructure development (clean air and
drinking water, waste water services, and electricity), access to broadband connectivity, utility accessibility, and
road improvements prioritizing school bus routes; and
5. Support Tribes, Nations, and Pueblos in protecting their original and currently recognized homelands and helping
ensure that water, air, land, and cultural resources and sacred sites are protected from damage, disturbance, and
contamination utilizing existing state and federal laws. We affirm that tribal communities have the right to
implement their own EPA standards and ensure restoration of their original homelands, in addition to the federal
government standards; and
6. We commit to supporting equitable compensation to Indian Tribes, Nations, and Pueblos for rights-of-way, leases,
and other uses of their lands and resources; and
7. Provide support for existing tribal and pueblo agricultural practices that include the protection of traditional
seed-saving, irrigation systems, and other cultural traditions; and
8. Support and assist Tribes and Pueblos in obtaining affordable and accessible quality health care and behavioral
healthcare. This includes addiction treatment services through delivery systems that include the Indian Health
Service (IHS), Medicare, and Medicaid. This will help in protecting funding streams that enable Tribes and
Pueblos to procure multi-level health care services for their members and provide sufficient funding for eldercare
services such as nutrition and caregiver programs in tribal communities. Prevent Medicaid funding based on block
grant formulae; and
9. Assist and support educational programs that respect tribal sovereignty and self-determination with an emphasis
on high-quality instruction, effective professional teacher development, recruitment, retention, and the
development of culturally sensitive curricula including Native language retention and instruction; and
10. Will work to effectuate meaningful education policy change that includes: (a) collaborating with the Bureau of
Indian Education; (b) supplementing and not supplanting federal Impact Aid funding; strengthening
self-determination by enabling culturally inclusive learning techniques unique to each tribal nation; (c) furnishing
and funding tribal libraries; (d) fostering the advancement of higher education that includes the re-introduction of
career technical education; (e) creating and developing a literate, highly skilled, and well-educated workforce
within tribal communities; (f) providing childcare, nutrition, and early childhood education programs in tribal
communities; (g) protecting Title IX funding and special education assistance programs, and (h) supporting
administration development and Indian Education support staff within tribal communities; and
11. Support and monitor the implementation of the Tribal Remedy Framework and the key tenets of the
Yazzie/Martinez vs. New Mexico case; and
12. Protect existing laws and intergovernmental agreements benefiting tribal interests in the areas of taxation,
education, voting, healthcare, and cultural resources and ensure that American Indians and Alaska Natives living
on or off tribal lands in the state benefit equally from state and local funding, programs and services, with the
understanding that intergovernmental cooperation and collaboration benefits the entire State of New Mexico; and
13. Support and protect meaningful tribal consultation and collaboration with New Mexico’s Tribes and Pueblos to
participate and comment on all legislation affecting tribal interests as early as possible in the legislative process,
including interim periods and legislative sessions, and in areas where the Democratic Party of New Mexico may
have influence in tribal relations; and
14. Support laws such as the State Tribal Collaboration Act and Indian Child Welfare Act and their implementation;
and
15. Uplift Native women to be central to the struggle for Native liberation and sovereignty. Support Native women
seeking leadership roles; and
16. We will protect all Native Americans regardless of gender from legal, political, and extra-legal discrimination,
persecution, killing, torture, rape, and human trafficking; and
17. Implement and provide continued technical support regarding emergency management services on tribal land,
including the implementation of Amber Alert and Silver Alert communications in these communities; and
18. Fully fund the New Mexico Tribal Infrastructure Fund (TIF), as supported by the Tribal Infrastructure Act, to
include water line projects, fire stations, and other community-development projects on Native lands; and
19. Support American Indian water rights settlements and easements.
