This is a letter mailed to all Pala Tribal Members on September 30th, 2011. In it Robert Smith acknowledges the descendants of Margarita Brittain as 1/16th. And yet 5 months later we were disenrolled for no reason.
September 30, 2011 Pala Band of Mission Indians Letter
In 1903 the Agua Caleinte Cupeno were removed from their ancestral tribal home, the Village of Kupa also known as Warner's Hot Springs. The Cupeno were forced onto the Pala Indian Reservation. This is known as the Cupeno Trail of Tears. On June 1st, 2011 and February 1st, 2012 162 Warner Ranch Evictee Agua Caliente Cupeno were removed from the PBMI Association by the Pala Enrollment Committee. This is our Second Trail of Tears.