By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
One Feather Asst. Editor
The Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas, a state-recognized group based in McAllen, Texas, is seeking federal acknowledgement as an American Indian tribe through a newly-introduced House bill. H.R. 10435 (Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas Recognition Act) was introduced by Rep. Vincente Gonzalez (D-Texas) on Sept. 16, 2026.
Rep. Gonzalez said in a statement after the bill was introduced, “The Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas has made significant cultural and historical contributions to the United States. From serving in our military and protecting the environment and sacred sites to much more, they are our trusted neighbors—deeply woven into the fabric of South Texas. It is long overdue for Congress to officially recognize this Tribe and expand their access to federal support and resources.”
According to information from the Texas State Historical Association, “For more than three centuries, the Lipan Apache have maintained a documented and continuous presence across the South Plains, the Texas Hill Country, South Texas, West Texas, and in northern Chihuahua and Coahuila in Mexico…The Lipan Apache belong to the southern branch of the Athabaskan-speaking Nde’ (meaning ‘the people’), a broadly dispersed cultural and linguistic family whose ancestors were carried southward by their mastery of the bow and their pursuit of bison herds.”
The Lipan Apache Tribe received state recognition with the passage of Texas Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 61 in 2019. That resolution states in part, “The Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas is the present-day incarnation of a proud people who have lived in Texas and northern Mexico for more than 300 years; and the Lipan Apache have entered into treaties, alliances, and pledges of friendship with the governments of Spain, Mexico, the German Confederation, and the United States. (Texas) President Sam Houston and the Republic of Texas formally acknowledge a friendship with the Lipan Apaches through the Treaty of Live Oak Point in 1838.”
The Lipan Apache have been a member of the National Congress of American Indians since 2016. Lipan Apache tribal member Gonzalo Flores served as NCAI national vice president for the Southern Plains Region from 2021-23.
The Lipan Apache filed a suit in federal court against the U.S. Department of the Interior following the March 2006 confiscation of eagle feathers by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from Dr. Robert Soto, who currently serves as the vice-chairman of the Lipan Apache
On the case, the Texas State Historical Association writes, “In 2014 the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in McAllen Grace Brethren Church v. Salazar recognized the Lipan Apache’s historic ‘government-to-government relationships with the Republic of Texas, the State of Texas, and the United States government’, a judicial recognition of a continuous political relationship stretching back to the 1749 treaty with Spanish San Antonio, the 1822 treaty with the Republic of Mexico, the Treaty of Live Oak Point in 1838 with the Republic of Texas, and various treaties with the U.S. federal government, including the 1978 recognition by the Federal Indian Claims Commission of the land between San Antonio, Laredo, and Brackettville, Texas, as the ‘judicially established’ land area of the Lipan Apache. As a result of this ruling and a settlement agreement in McAllen Grace Brethren Church et al. v. Jewell in 2016, the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas is the only non-federally recognized tribe with members who are permitted by the Department of Interior to carry eagle feathers.”
In a statement following the introduction of H.R. 10435, Dr. Soto commented, “For generations, the Lipan Apache people have fought to preserve our faith, ceremonies, and sacred traditions. I know personally what it means to have to fight for the freedom to practice our religion simply because our Tribe lacks federal recognition. While that fight secured important protections for some of our people, religious freedom should not depend on a court case. This legislation is an important step toward ensuring that all enrolled members of the tribe can practice our faith and preserve our sacred traditions with the dignity and freedom they deserve.”
H.R. 10435 was referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources on Sept. 16, 2026. There are no scheduled hearings in that Committee on this bill as of press time.
