DELORES TORTUGA in 1915:
It is very clear that Pechanga elder Dolores Tortuga included our ancestor Paulina Hunter in the inclusive "we Pechanga Indians" when she testified in the 1915 probate hearings by saying in response to the examiner's question below:
"Were you acquainted with the deceased Pechanga Indian allottee Paulina Hunter?"
Tortuga responded by saying, "yes, I knew her as a neighbor when WE PECHANGA INDIANS lived on the Pauba Ranch near Temecula, California."
Tortuga's testimony was collaborated by Pechanga elder Jose David Rodriguez who added that he knew Paulina Hunter as a neighbor on the Pechanga reservation.
There is NO DISPUTE that our family has a land patent as Temecula Indians from the U.S. government.
Paulina Hunter, who lived her whole life as a Pechanga Indian was an
official citizen of her Indian Tribe, even if she wasn't a citizen of the United States.
To retroactively take away her Pechanga citizenship leaves the Hunter Family's founding matriarch without any historical citizenship whatsoever. This is nothing less than an assault on the true heritage of the Hunter Family and an abomination of the history of the Pechanga Tribe. (Jeffredo v Macarro)
Hunter family disenrollment is UNJUST and the sitting tribal should overturn the injustice.
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