Pascua Yaqui Issues First Enhanced Tribal Card

Tribe Gets Historic Enhanced Tribal Card
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – While the Navajo Nation’s Intergovernmental Relations Transition Task Force will be charged with looking at a Navajo Nationwide identification card, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe on Friday became the first tribe in the country to issue an Enhanced Tribal Card.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the tribe jointly announced production of the first ever Enhanced Tribal Card, or ETC, which is designed as a Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative-compliant document that formally recognizes tribal membership and U.S. citizenship for the purpose of entering the United States through a land or sea port of entry.

“We look forward to continuing to build close partnerships with tribal nations across the country as we work together to make the border crossing process more secure and efficient,” said Secretary Janet Napolitano, former governor of Arizona.

“The Pascua Yaqui Tribe hopes that such a program will enhance the facilitation of ceremonial, family and business travel for our Yaqui members,” said Chairman Peter Yucupicio.

Arizona has come under fire recently for its controversial new immigration law, Senate Bill 1070. Some members of the Navajo Nation Council have expressed fear that Navajos will be arrested on suspicion of being illegal aliens when traveling in the southern end of the state.

The Pascua Yaqui Tribe became the first tribe in Arizona to sign a memorandum of agreement with U.S. Customs and Border Protection for development of an ETC last May. The tribe’s enrollment office began issuing the cards to its membership July 26.

The Pascua Yaqui ETC has document security features and radio frequency identification technology to meet the requirements of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. The card will be available to qualifying Pascua Yaqui Tribe members on a voluntary basis, and will include technology enabling the electronic verification of the member’s identity, tribal membership, and U.S. citizenship.

Designation of the ETC as a Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative-compliant document for entry into the United States by land or sea will be published by Customs and Border Protection through a notice in the Federal Register in the coming months.

The Pascua Yaqui Tribe, located approximately 60 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, has more than 17,000 members, many of whom have relatives residing on both sides of the border. Both the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and its Yaqui cousins in Mexico regularly visit each other for religious, cultural, and tribal purposes.

Since 2009, Customs and Border Protection also has signed memorandums of agreement with the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, the Seneca of New York, the Tohono O’odham of Arizona, and the Coquille of Oregon to develop Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative-compliant ETCs.

Customs and Border Protection currently is working with approximately 15 other tribes across the country on the ETC initiative.

Information: www.GetYouHome.gov or www.cbp.gov

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