Isleta

Isleta Pueblo Chief Justice Verna Teller prayed to “sacred mother earth” on Capitol Hill Wednesday, marking the first time an Indian American delivered the opening prayer on the House floor.

Although the city limits of Albuquerque do not include the South Valley, it extends all the way to the Isleta Indian Reservation.

In 1948, after veteran Miguel Trujillo, Sr. of Isleta Pueblo was told by the county registrar that he could not register to vote, he filed suit against the county in federal district court.

Some 400 members of Isleta, Socorro and neighboring pueblos were forced out or accompanied the Spaniards to El Paso as they fled Northern New Mexico.

Ten thousand people traveled to Isleta for this occasion.

The plans hope to remedy previous poor urban planning in the oldest section of the city, the Isleta, while curbing reliance on motor vehicles.

Urban sprawl is limited on three sides—by the Sandia Pueblo to the north, the Isleta Pueblo and Kirtland Air Force Base to the south, and the Sandia Mountains to the east.