Robert Soto

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Robert Soto
Born
Robert Soto

1952 (age 71–72)
McAllen, Texas
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipAmerican
Education
Occupations
Organization(s)McAllen Grace Brethren Church
Native American New Life Center
SpouseIris Soto
ChildrenDaniel Patrick Soto (Son)
Rachel Alene Soto (Daughter)
Parent(s)Anita Acosta Soto (mother)
Alfonso Soto (father)
RelativesChief Poca Ropa[1]
4 Brothers
4 Sisters
WebsiteRobert Soto

Robert Soto is a pastor, religious leader, Tribal Council vice chairman, feather dancer, and activist who is a member of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas and serves as their council's vice chairman.[2] He is best known for a series of successful legal challenges to oppose laws that have both restricted and criminalized eagle feather possession by Native Americans. The basis for his position is that possession of eagle feathers is an expression of Native American religious freedom.

Personal life[edit]

Robert Soto was born to Alfonso Soto and Anita Acosta Soto in McAllen, Texas, the oldest of nine children with four brothers and four sisters.[3]

He and his wife have two grown children, Daniel Patrick Soto and Rachel Alene Soto, as well as three grandchildren.[1]

Earning his Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Education from Florida Bible College in Orlando, Florida, Soto went on to earn his Master of Divinity (M.Div.) and his Master of Arts in Christian School administration at Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, Indiana.

Career[edit]

Robert Soto currently serves as pastor of McAllen Grace Brethren Church and the Native American New Life Center in McAllen, Texas.[4]

He formerly served as pastor at Grace Brethren Church. His congregation asked him to create a ministry for Native Americans because associates would not agree to attend his church due to their belief it was a "White man's church".[5] While here, he adapted some elements of Native American culture, such as Native praise songs, for the worship of Jesus Christ. However, parishioners misinterpreted this practice, along with Soto's participation in feather dancing. Rumors began to circulate that Soto was a demon worshiper. Consequently, attendance decreased sharply, and Soto's ministry lost the building.[5]

In addition to McAllen Grace Brethren Church, Soto was also responsible for the founding of four American Indian congregations. Three of these congregations were in Texas, one was in Florida, as well as the Son Tree Native Path. This specific ministry boasts indigenous community membership in three countries—the United States, Canada, and Mexico.[5]

Robert Soto has been dancing since he was eight years old. He has been feather dancing for over 40 years, Gourd Dancing for many years (and maintains active membership in the Gulf Coast Tia Piah Gourd Dance Society of Houston), Eagle Dancing, and Hoop Dancing for over 35 years. He plays the Indian Love Flute.[6]

Legal history[edit]

Operation Powwow[edit]

On March 11, 2006, members of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas were gathered at a powwow. The tribe allowed outsiders to observe the dance. During the dance, a stranger began asking questions about it. None of the attendees became suspicious of the questioner's behavior. It turned out the stranger was an undercover agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and he was investigating the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas for possession of eagle feathers. Upon learning of the feathers' origins, the agent confiscated them and threatened to charge Soto with fines and jail time should he continue to use eagle feathers in accordance with his faith.[7] This FBI raid was designated Operation Powwow,[8]

The FBI agent confiscated approximately 50 of the sacred eagle feathers and threatened their owners with fines and prison.[9][10] The agent claimed that Soto and his religious followers had collected the feathers in contravention of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which criminalized the killing of eagles, the removal of their feathers from the ground, and mandated that the only place to legally receive new feathers was from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-run National Eagle Repository in Denver, Colorado[11]

Soto was subsequently charged with being in possession of eagle feathers without having a permit.[12]

Soto, who had been given the feathers many decades earlier, was threatened with prosecution for illegal possession of the feathers. Authorities agreed to end a criminal investigation into the pastor in exchange for his signature on a voluntary abandonment of said eagle fathers. Shortly thereafter, Soto began to pursue the matter in the courts.[13]

Eagle feather law[edit]

See also: Eagle feather law

The bureaucratic system that governs the distribution of eagle feathers has long been a source of contention for Indigenous religious practitioners.[14] The biggest criticism of the National Eagle Repository is that it is not available for everyone to use. The regulations set forth by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service limit applications for permits to American Indians who have federal recognition.[15] Federal recognition is a slow, laborious process that can span decades, if it materializes at all. Consequently, this deprives more than 200 unrecognized tribal nations, including those which only have state recognition and terminated recognition, and a minority of non-Indian practitioners, of any legal avenue by which to obtain eagle feathers.[11] The slow processing speed at which requests are filled has been one of the most problematic parts of this process. According to the National Eagle Repository, an order of 10 loose quality feathers will take at least six months, and the entire eagle will take over two years to fulfill.[15] Furthermore, the fulfillment of orders for whole eagles has been tenuous due to partial decomposition by the time they are delivered.[11]

There have been challenges from ineligible parties on the grounds that distinguishing between tribal nations with federal recognition and other Americans is a violation of the First Amendment's free exercise clause and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. But the U.S. Court of Appeals has rejected RFRA-based challenges to eagle feather laws in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta and, to a lesser extent, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Denver, on the basis that the federal government's interests in safeguarding eagles or meeting the obligations to federally recognized tribal nations is sufficiently compelling, and that existing law is the least restrictive method of achieving these interests.[12]

United States v. Erick Bonilla[edit]

In 2010, Soto testified on behalf of Erick Ricardo Bonilla, a 32-year-old oilfield worker and father of six who had been living in Odessa, Texas, as an undocumented immigrant since June 2004. Bonilla was facing up to two years in prison for re-entering the United States after being deported on two separate occasions, and "voluntarily returned" to Mexico on two other occasions after trying to enter the United States through El Paso, Texas.[16] Bonilla was born in Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, but was also identified as a Lipan Apache descendant.[17]

According to court documents and testimony, because of his tribal affiliation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement "approved his case" and allowed him to remain in the United States after misdemeanor arrests resulted in his internment at the Ector County Detention Center. Bonilla's Legal representation argued that he should be allowed to remain in the United States under the promise of "perpetual friendship" outlined in an arcane treaty between the Lipan Apache people and the Republic of Texas.[16][18]

Bonilla was convicted of illegal re-entry in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326, and was sentenced to 14 months of imprisonment.[19]

Bonilla's appeal was heard by the Fifth Circuit Court in United States v. Erick Bonilla. On August 10, 2011, the Fifth Circuit ruled against Bonilla, and upheld the sentence he received from the lower court.[19]

McAllen Grace Brethren Church v. Salazar[edit]

On March 16, 2007, Soto and the plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas (Southern Court) against several government officials, such as the U.S. Attorney General, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas in the case McAllen Grace Brethren Church et al v U.S. Attorney General et al. The plaintiffs contested the DOI's interpretation and implementation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (BGEPA) on several grounds including the claim that confiscating the eagle feathers violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[20]

On March 28, 2012, the plaintiffs amended the complaint, naming only the DOI as the sole defendant. The amended complaint continued to challenge the DOI's application of the MBTA and BGEPA, on the same grounds as before. Both sides submitted cross motions for summary judgment, and, on March 14, 2013, the DOI's Motion for summary judgment was granted by the Southern Court. Robert Soto and the other plaintiffs filed an appealed.[21]

On August 20, 2014, the 5th Circuit held that the Department of the Interior had failed to show that a regulation preventing possession of bald and golden eagle feathers was the least restrictive means of furthering an asserted governmental interest and did not violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).[22] The 5th Cir. overturned the decision and sent the case back to the district court.[23]

The court’s opinion was founded on Soto’s sincerity as a practitioner of an American Indian faith. While the principle of sincerity has raised concerns for its potential indeterminacy, the court carefully and explicitly distinguished Soto and his tribe’s RFRA protections in this case from that of nonnatives based on the basis of two considerations.[24] First, the court held that Soto was “without dispute an Indian” and, specifically, "American Indian." Second, the court maintained "the Lipan Apache Tribe, which, although not federally recognized, has long historical roots in Texas".[24] Thus while Soto’s tribe was itself not federally recognized, the positionality of the Lipan people informed the court’s failure to find that "Congress intended to protect only federally recognized tribe members' religious rights." The circuit judge therefore emphasized that Soto’s RFRA protections differed from status claims potentially asserted by nonnative religious practitioners or other individuals who are members of non-federally recognized tribes before U.S. courts, such that the opinion was "limited by..Soto’s RFRA claim based on him and his tribe’s status."[24]

For this desicion, the court relied on the expansion of the RFRA standard in the Supreme Court's holding in Hobby Lobby ruling that if a regulation already grants an exemption from the law for a specific group, the government will face a greater challenge in showing that the application of the law furthers a compelling interest.[25]

McAllen Grace Brethren Church v. Jewell[edit]

Before further adjudication, the authorized representatives of both the plaintiffs and the defendant convened to engage in settlement negotiations.[26]

On March 10, 2015, the Department of Interior returned to Soto the eagle feathers seized in 2007. While awaiting a settlement, the plaintiffs filed a motion for injunctive relief to prevent the government from investigating or punishing individuals from non-federally recognized tribes since the policy that criminalized possession of eagle feathers of these individuals was still in place.[27]

On June 3, 2016, all parties signed a settlement agreement. As a result, the settlement with the Department of Interior granted lifetime permits to over 400 Native Americans 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”.[28][29][30]

Legacy[edit]

In July 2018, Soto filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asking for revision to the current legal guidelines about the religious use of federally protected bird feathers.[31] Per the settlement agreement entered into law in 2016 following McAllen Grace Brethren Church V. Jewell, the petition was published to the government regulations website to solicit public input on the said petition.[32] Soto's petition would implement the non-prosecution policy as a formal rule, proposes additional funding for the National Eagle Repository and increase enforcement of laws which criminalize the killing of eagles and other protected bird species.[13]

In April 2019, in response to Soto's victory in McAllen Grace Brethren Church v. Jewell, the Department of the Interior, "published a proposed rule to end the criminalization of eagle feather possession and expand existing protections for federally-recognized Native American tribes to cover members of state-recognized tribes as well".[33]

The proposed rule would expand the scope of Native Americans who are eligible to Native Americans who do not belong to any tribal nation and approximately 200,000 members of state-recognized tribal nations by recognizing the religious interests of these individuals, Native American churches or Native American religions as "sincere".[13]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Soto, Robert (May 1, 2000). "Robert Soto Biography". Robert Soto. Archived from the original on December 20, 2018. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  2. ^ Pool, Press (12 June 2019). "Lipan Apache Tribe Recognized by the State of Texas". News Maven. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  3. ^ Brown, Ric (June 11, 2015). "Obituary – Anita Soto". Ric Brown Family Funeral Home. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  4. ^ McDonough, Tim (September 16, 2016). "Hebron Ministries in Defiance to host Native American speaker Robert Soto". Crescent News. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  5. ^ a b c Cutler Gates, Liz (August 10, 2018). "Cultural Context". News Maven. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  6. ^ Master, Web (August 10, 2000). "Robert Soto". Son Tree. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
  7. ^ Rocklin, Mitchell (June 21, 2019). "Orthodox Jews And Indian Eagle Feathers". Jewish Press. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
  8. ^ Rickert, Levi (May 27, 2015). "Federal District Court to Hear American Indian Eagle Feather Case". Native News Online. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  9. ^ Soto, Robert (July 7, 2016). "Texas Apache tribe flies free: Column". USAToday. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  10. ^ Soto, Robert (July 8, 2016). "Robert Soto: Lipan Apache Tribe wins long fight for eagle feathers". Indianz. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  11. ^ a b c Laird, Lorelei (January 1, 2015). "American Indians challenging eagle feather rules get a boost from Hobby Lobby ruling". ABA Journal. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  12. ^ a b Aguillard, Anna (September 8, 2014). "Fifth Circuit grants Native Americans religious freedom to obtain permits for eagle feathers". Louisiana Record. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  13. ^ a b c Manson, Pamela (July 15, 2019). "U.S. may allow more Native Americans religious use of eagle feathers". UPI. Archived from the original on July 23, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  14. ^ Lorelei Laird. "American Indians challenging eagle feather rules get a boost from Hobby Lobby ruling". Archived from the original on 30 May 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  15. ^ a b Repository, National Eagle. "Ordering Eagle Parts and Feathers from the National Eagle Repository" (PDF). U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  16. ^ a b Mustian, Jim (July 7, 2010). "Native American found guilty". The Odessa American. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  17. ^ Mustian, Jim (October 7, 2010). "Apache sentenced for illegal entry". The Odessa American. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
  18. ^ Koerner, Brendan I. (7 October 2010). "Promises, Promises". MicroKhan. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  19. ^ a b Cayce, Lyle W. (August 11, 2011). "United States v. Erick Bonilla, 10-50965 (5th Cir. 2011)". The Odessa American. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  20. ^ Adair Martin Smith. "Native American Use of Eagle Feathers Under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act U. Cin. L. Rev. 84 (2016): 575". p. 13.
  21. ^ Lyle W. Cayce Clerk. "IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT" (PDF). uscourts.gov.
  22. ^ Clerk, Court (August 20, 2014). "McAllen Grace Brethren Church v. Salazar". Georgia Municipal Association. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  23. ^ Clerk, Court (20 August 2014). "McALLEN GRACE BRETHREN CHURCH v. SALAZAR • No. 13-40326". Leagle. Archived from the original on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  24. ^ a b c "McAllen Grace Brethren Church v. Salazar, 764 F.3d at 474 (5th Cir. 2014)" (PDF). p. 23.
  25. ^ Langford, Cameron (August 26, 2014). "Limits on Access to Eagle Feathers Questioned". Courthouse News. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
  26. ^ "Settlement Agreement at 3-4, McAllen Grace Brethren Church v. Jewell, No. 7:07-cv-60 (S.D. Tex. June 13, 2016)" (PDF). Court House News. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 February 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  27. ^ Milo Colton. "Texas Indian Holocaust and Survival: McAllen Grace Brethren Church v. Salazar". stmarytx.edu.
  28. ^ Colton, Milo. "Texas Indian Holocaust and Survival: McAllen Grace Brethren Church v. Jewell [p. 92]". stmarytx.edu. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  29. ^ Staff. "Exhibit 1 Settement Agreement File Stamped". Retrieved 17 July 2023.
  30. ^ Adèle Auxier Keim. "The Religious Freedom Restoration Act and Indian Act: From Individual Advocacy to Collective Action."". Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  31. ^ Soto, Robert (July 1, 2018). "S3Amazon" (PDF). Robert Soto Petition. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 11, 2019. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
  32. ^ Publisher, Website (April 30, 2019). "Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and Migratory Bird Treaty Act; Religious Use of Feathers". Regulations.gov. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
  33. ^ Fund, The Becket. "McAllen Grace Brethren Church v. Jewell". Becket Law. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
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