Thursday, August 23, 2018

B.I.A. and their FOIA TEAM Meet the immovable object: EMILIO REYES,

Emilio Reyes

EMILIO REYES, of the NEWE TONGVA nation, which is working for their federal recognition and a contributor/media analyst to our website has scored  a coup with his challenges to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, read how Javin Moore was called out.  After a number of email exchanges including this one below, with FOIA officer Jessica Rogers, this seems to be more of their OKIE DOKE maneuvers.



As Emilio reported to me:

In a previous court case, it was determined thru the Court that the BIA CANNOT withhold or redact 1928 CA Indian Applications related to the 1933 Indian Census Roll as they are in the public domain with no restrictions.


The Agency continues to be non-compliant to my FOIA requests, even after the previous win case. The records requested in this FOIA request pertain to a family allegedly claiming affiliation with the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians, but are listed in the early records as Cabazon Indians. Similar story is happening in other tribal bands such as the San Pasqual Band Of Mission Indians.



After a phone call, with Ms. Rogers,  where he showed he obviously was well versed on FOIA requests, rules and compliance, was offered a chance to help on their upcoming procedures manual.   Proving that the work begins when you are told NO.   Do not let them beat YOU into submission.  Please Read and SHARE. 

Excellent work by my friend Emilio Reyes



Dear Mr. Reyes:

Thank you for your request for IA FOIA Public Liaison Services. There are no special forms needed for requesting IA FOIA Public Liaison Services. However to better serve you and streamline our coordination you will need to provide and clarify the information you submitted to contain only the following:
  • Your contact information (name, mailing address or e-mail address, daytime telephone number):
  • A clear description of the issue or the assistance you seek from the IA FOIA Public Liaison (for example, a delay in receiving a response to your FOIA request or a denial of specific information)
  • The name of the agency or agencies to which you submitted your request(s) 
  • The tracking/request/case number(s) assigned to your FOIA request(s) and/or appeal(s)
  • Copies of all relevant correspondence between you and the Federal agency. Depending on where you are in the FOIA process, this material might include:
  • Your FOIA request;
  • The agency’s response to your request (including a response to a request for expedited processing or a fee waiver);
  • Your administrative appeal letter; and
  • The agency’s response to your appeal.
Send your documents and information by:

Email: foia@bia.gov    

Mail: Indian Affairs FOIA Public Liaison
U.S. Department of the Interior
Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs
Freedom of Information Act Office
1849 C Street, NW, MS-4660-MIB, Washington, DC 20240
Please note that the IA FOIA Public Liaison cannot:
  • Address requests that are already in litigation
  • Compel responsive action offices to release documents
  • Review or process or FOIA requests or appeals
  • Provide legal assistance
  • Provide assistance outside the realm of FOIA, including state or local FOI matters, or underlying disputes with agencies (for example, administrative proceedings)
If you have any questions about what you need to send, feel to email your questions to jessica.rogers@bia.gov and foia@bia.gov

Sincerely, 
Jessica R. Rogers Indian Affairs FOIA Officer/Indian Affairs Public Liaison



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

EMILIO REYES: CAN YOU LOOK INTO PALA PLEASE. LOOK INTO THE DISENROLLMENTS AND REMIJO LUGO BEING FROM CAHUILLA BEFORE 1903 WHEN HE WAS HIRED TO BRING DOWN THE CUPENO FROM WARNER SPRINGS TO PALA THEN SAID HE WAS ONE OF THE WARNER RANCH EVICTEES TO GET AN ALLOTMENT IN PALA AND THEN GOT ON THE ROLLS LATER BECAUSE OF IT BUT IS NOT CUPENO. EMILIO REYES PLEASE HELP. WE HAVE THE DOCUMENTS BUT MAYBE YOU CAN FIND MORE OR HELP BRING THIS TO LIGHT. REMIJO LUGO DESCENDANTS SIT ON THE PALA COUNCIL AND STARTED THE DISENROLLMENTS WITH ROBERT SMITH. I Thank You, Thank You in Advance.

Reinstatement_Restitution said...

Do you have any proof that Remijio Lugo claimed to be a Warner's Ranch Evictee? As far as I can tell the BIA knew all along that he was Cahuilla. They sent his payment for helping move the evictees to his Banning address. He was a teamster and drove a wagon, and was one of the teamsters sent to Warner's Springs for the removal.

The act of Congress that appropriated funds to acquire land for the Mission Indians of Rancho San Jose del Valle (the Agua Caliente Cupeno) said the Secretary could also locate landless and homeless Mission Indians on the land at his discretion. That is how the San Felipe Diegueno (Iipay), Remijio Lugo, and a couple of other questionable persons who may have been Rincon Luiseno were allotted at Pala.

Keep it all straight. It was Frances Muncey of So-Cal Agency who made the recommendation that the new Constitution contain a provision for disenrollment because the Band had to disenroll members before due to false information on their enrollment applications. However, I am pretty certain that Robert Smith told Frances Muncey to put this in the recommendations so he could tell the General Council that the BIA was making them address disenrollment.

It is hard to prove but when the final decision was issued and the BIA ordered PBMI to enroll the Britten descendants Robert Smith decided that the Articles of Association had to go because they gave the BIA authority to order the Band to enroll members, put the Bureau in charge of the membership roll, amendments had to have BIA approval, and the BIA had to approve attorneys.

Robert Smith was on the hunt for a gaming attorney that could help him get a casino, steal the money, and disenroll anyone who opposed him. He already had examples of how other tribes were making it happen, and his buddy Bobby Salgado had taught him all about accepting bribes in exchange for showing favoritism to certain operators that wanted a piece of the action. He started with Karshmer and Associates who help him develop a Constitution, then turned to Howard Dickstein who pulled the strings to get a Casino.

The proof really is that this is how it all happened.