Interior Department Won’t Consider Ysleta Del Sur Application

CHAPARRAL, N.M. (AP) – The Interior Department says it’s not considering an application by the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo in El Paso seeking trust land for a casino.

Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, also known as the Tigua tribe, proposed the off-reservation casino in nearby Chaparral, N.M. in August 2006.

The Interior Department sent a letter January Fourth saying the pueblo’s application was incomplete.

The department won’t consider it since no new information has been submitted for more than a year. A spokeswoman says the tribe hasn’t received the letter.

The brief letter was a form letter similar to one sent to about a dozen tribes. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act allows off-reservation gambling only on trust land controlled by a tribe.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)