Congresswoman Leger Fernández Statement on Passage of Her Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony or STOP Act, Set To Become Law

Press Release

Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández issued the following statement after passage of her Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony or STOP Act, which now heads to the President's desk to be signed into law: 

"This week has been historic for Tribal Nations -- from New Mexico to Alaska to Hawaii -- as the Senate passed my bill, H.R. 2930, the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony or the STOP Act. It will now go to the President's desk. 

While the United States has enacted domestic law to aid other countries in protecting their cultural property, until the STOP Act, we had no law to stop the export of Native American patrimony. Nowhere is this more clear than the Pueblo of Acoma's stolen shield. The shield was stolen in the 1970s and then appeared in a French auction house catalog in 2015. The STOP Act will explicitly prohibit the export of tribal cultural items obtained illegally and better enable their return if found overseas. This bill has long enjoyed bicameral, bipartisan support. 

I'm honored to have worked with Senator Martin Heinrich, Senator Ben Ray Lujan, the late Representative Don Young, Tribal leaders, and so many others to see this bill across the finish line." 

Source