The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area on Tuesday formally requested that President Donald Trump return the Presidio to its supervision.
The move “would reduce federal taxpayer spending and constitute one of the most significant rematriations of Indigenous land in U.S. history,” the tribe said in a statement.
The request follows Trump’s recent executive order dissolving the Presidio Trust, the federal agency established by Congress in 1996 to redevelop the former military base.
The White House has not responded to a request for comment.
“This is an opportunity for President Trump to do what the state of California has failed to do,” tribal chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh said in a statement. “Not only will returning the Presidio to Indigenous care be the right thing for our people and for the land, but it will also save the federal government — and taxpayers — money.”
The tribe, working with the Lakota People’s Law Project, has launched a petition seeking public support for the initiative.
Tribal officials said they submitted a Right of First Refusal to the federal government during the military installation’s decommissioning in 1992 but faced opposition from prominent California politicians, including the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.
Attempts to reach the Feinstein family for a statement were not immediately successful. Representatives of Pelosi’s office and the Presidio Trust did not respond to requests for comment.
“Despite widespread support for our tribe from their constituents, Sen. Feinstein, Speaker Pelosi, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren have always opposed our attempts to gain federal recognition and rematriate the Presidio,” Nijmeh said.
The Presidio was inhabited by Ohlone ancestors before becoming a military installation. Four county Democratic Party committees have passed formal resolutions supporting the tribe’s renewed federal recognition, according to tribal officials.
The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe claims on its website that it was once federally recognized as the Verona Band of Alameda County but was omitted from the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ first official list of recognized tribes, drafted in 1978. The tribe has sought to reaffirm its federal status for more than 45 years.
There are 614 current members of the tribe, living mainly in the Bay Area, a spokesperson said
In August, tribal members launched a “Trail of Truth” horseback trip from San Francisco, over the Golden Gate Bridge, to Washington, D.C., in hopes of spurring federal lawmakers to recognize the Muwekma Ohlone as a legitimate tribe, permitting its several hundred members powers of self-government and access to financial benefits, among other protections. A push to seek recognition from San Jose officials fell short last fall.