Albuquerque Indian School Act of 2025
Key claim: The Albuquerque Indian School Act of 2025 would transfer three tracts of federal land in Albuquerque (about 9.89 acres) into trust for the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico for educational, health, cultural, business, and economic development, convey Tract 1 buildings to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in fee, and prohibit gaming on the trust land.
Abstract
(HR6162 · 119th Congress) Albuquerque Indian School Act of 2025 This bill takes three tracts of specified federal land (approximately 9.89 acres) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, into trust for the benefit of the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico. (These three tracts of land were historically part of the Albuquerque Indian School, which was an Indian boarding school until 1981.) The land is currently administered by the General Services Administration (GSA). Within 90 days of this bill’s enactment, the GSA must (1) relocate all federal tenants on the land, and (2) transfer administrative jurisdiction over the land to the Department of the Interior. Within 90 days after the relocation of federal tenants and transfer of administrative jurisdiction, the bill requires (1) Interior to take the land into trust for the benefit of the 19 Pueblos, and (2) the federal government to convey its ownership interests in buildings and other structures located within Tract 1 to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center to own in fee. (Tract 1, which is approximately 3.57 acres, contains a warehouse that is 76,682 square feet.) The bill requires the land taken into trust to be used for the educational, health, cultural, business, and economic development of the 19 Pueblos. Further, the land must remain subject to existing private and municipal encumbrances, rights-of-way, restrictions, easements of record, and utility service agreements. The bill prohibits gaming on the land taken into trust. Latest action (2026-06-03): Received in the Senate.
Why this matters
This bill is a site-specific federal-to-trust land conveyance that would expand tribal land holdings in urban Albuquerque for non-gaming educational, health, cultural, and economic uses, with a fee conveyance of existing buildings to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. For land use in the area, it shifts ~9.89 acres from federal jurisdiction to tribal trust status, changing the applicable regulatory regime for future development on the parcels while leaving existing encumbrances intact.