Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas
The Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas is a cultural heritage organization of individuals who identify as descendants of Lipan Apache people, based in McAllen, Texas. 

The Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas is an unrecognized organization. They are neither a federally recognized tribe nor a state-recognized tribe.

They should not be confused with other unrecognized organizations who also identify as Lipan Apache descendants, including the Apache Council of Texas (Alice), Cuelgahen Nde Lipan Apache of Texas (Three Rivers), Lipan Apache Band of Texas (Brackettville), and Lipan Apache Nation (San Antonio).

Organizations 
The Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas, Inc., became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 2007. It is based in McAllen, Texas.

Their subject areas are cultural awareness; agriculture, fishing, and forestry; and history museums. In 2013, the organization held $10,013 in assets.

Bernard F. Barcena Jr. is the registered agent.

Officers of the organization include:
 Director and agent: Bernard F. Barcena Jr.
 Director: Robert Soto
 Officer: Erika Sauseda
 Officer: Juan S. Garcia

The Lipan Apache Tribe Cemetery Association, another 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, was registered in 2023. Bernard F. Barcena of San Antonio is also the registered agent of this organization.

Resolution and bill 
In 2009, the Texas state senate passed Senate Resolution 438, a congratulatory resolution authored by State Senator Juan Hinojosa.

On March 18, 2009, SR 438 titled "Recognizing the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas" was adopted in the Texas Senate, legislative session 81(R). Jointly, on the same day, HR 812 titled "Recognizing the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas" was adopted in the Texas House of Representatives. Although not signed by the Governor or law, these resolutions expressed the views of the Senate and the House in recognizing the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas as "the present-day incarnation of the clans, bands, and divisions historically known as the Lipan Apaches, who have lived in Texas and northern Mexico for 300 years" and commending the people of this Tribe for their contributions to the state. 

Congratulatory resolutions such as SR No. 438 are not the same as state-recognition. Texas has "no legal mechanism to recognize tribes." This organization has neither filed a petition for federal recognition as a Native American tribe, nor sent a letter of intent to file a petition for federal recognition. 

State senator Hinojosa introduced Texas Senate Bill 27, introduced in January 2021, to formally recognize this group. The bill died in committee.

Court case 
In August 2014, after nine years of litigation by Robert Soto (Vice-chairman of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas) and other plaintiffs against the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI), the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found that the seizure of 50 eagle feathers during a 2006 Lipan Apache pow wow violated Robert Soto's rights as a "sincere adherent to an American Indian religion" under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993. They concluded that Congress did not specifically aim to safeguard the religious rights solely of federally recognized tribe members. The Court accepted that he was "without dispute an [American] Indian" and a member of the Lipan Apache Tribe acknowledged to have "long historical roots" in Texas and who had a history of "government-to-government" relationships with the Republic of Texas, State of Texas, and the United States. The opinion was limited only to "Soto's RFRA claim based on his and his tribe's status". They remanded to the lower district court for proceedings consistent with their opinion, and the case was cabined to "Native American co-religionists" (referring to the "religious practices of real Native Americans") The DOI and the plaintiffs settled the case on June 3, 2016. Through the settlement, the DOI granted lifetime permits to over 400 Native Americans plaintiffs who were not members of federally recognized tribes to "possess, carry, use, wear, give, loan, or exchange among other Indians, without compensation, all federally protected birds, as well as their parts or feathers" for their "Indian religious use", in accordance to "the terms set forth in the DOI's February 5, 1975 'Morton Policy'". The case was officially closed on February 17, 2017.

Cemetery 
In 2021, officials in Presidio and Presidio County, Texas, donated a late 18th- and 19th-century cemetery, Cementerio del Barrio de los Lipanes, to the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas. The Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas partnered with the Big Bend Conservation Alliance to protect and study the site in the Lipan Apache Cemetery project, funded in part by the Mellon Foundation.

Activities 
The Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas hosts an annual October powwow in Alton, Texas. 

A member of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas, Gonzo Flores, served as Southern Plains Vice-President of the National Congress of American Indians in 2022. He was succeeded by Reggie Wassana (Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes).

Notable members 
 Darcie Little Badger, novelist, oceanographer
 Robert Soto, pastor, powwow dancer

See also 
 Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Reservation

Notes

References

External links 
 

 
Apache heritage groups
Cultural organizations based in Texas
Non-profit organizations based in Texas
2007 establishments in Texas
Unrecognized tribes in the United States