Miguel Trujillo honored for helping secure the right for Natives in New Mexico to vote

ISLETA — As the General Election inches closer and closer, the efforts of one man who gave voting rights to every Native in New Mexico were celebrated at the Pueblo of Isleta.

On Aug. 1, pueblo and community members gathered to honor and remember Miguel Trujillo, a World War II veteran who successfully sued for the right for Natives to be able to vote 76 years ago.

Pueblo of Isleta Gov. Max Zuni said the celebration that day was to respect and honor Miguel Trujillo.

“He fought for voting rights. I want to encourage tribal members, especially our young people, to vote,” Zuni said. “That is how decisions are made that will help your country, tribal and state government. Your vote does count.”

After returning from serving in World War II, Trujillo decided it was time to be a registered voter and help shape the country he had defended. The U.S. Marine Corps veteran traveled to the Valencia County clerk’s office, where then Clerk Eloy Garley told him he wasn’t allowed to register.

Trujillo was a member of the Isleta Pueblo. He, along with the majority of New Mexico Natives, was considered an “Indians not taxed” by the state’s constitution and was prohibited from voting. So, Trujillo took the county to court, challenging that just because he didn’t pay property taxes on Pueblo lands he lived on, didn’t mean he should be disenfranchised.

On Aug. 3, 1948, a panel of three federal judges agreed, and 24 years after being granted citizenship, Natives in New Mexico were given the right to vote.

Jasmine Yepa, a member of the Pueblo of Jemez and field representative for U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, remembered being 18 years old and volunteering for the first campaign to get then Sen. Barack Obama elected as U.S. president. She skipped school to hear Obama speak in Albuquerque, even getting a high-five from him.

Being biracial herself, Yepa said Obama, as a candidate, was “that much more impactful and connected, and inspired me to get my people out to vote. Everyone here has a job to inspire the next generation.”

As part of the next generation, Kelsey Quintana, Miss Indian New Mexico and member of the Jicarilla Apache Nation, said growing up in her small town, she heard people talk about low voter participation but didn’t really think about the issue.

In college, she wrote a paper about voting in her hometown and found only about one-third of those registered actually voted.

“Especially people my age,” Quintana said. “The feeling is voting, as an individual, doesn’t matter within the community, but when people don’t vote it’s detrimental to the community.”

In 2022, former Pueblo of Isleta governor Vernon Abeita and other pueblo officials connected with the New Mexico Humanities Council, which offered a grant to put together a celebration of Trujillo, who died in 1989.

Prior to that year, Abeita said the Pueblo of Isleta Veterans Association had held small celebrations, honoring Trujillo as a veteran and voting rights advocate, but he hadn’t really been showcased.

That was the beginning of making a celebration of Trujillo’s advocacy an annual event at the pueblo.

During the 2022 National Association of Secretaries of State Conference, New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver submitted Trujillo for the Margaret Chase Smith American Democracy Award, and was selected to be that year’s recipient.

In 2018, Sen. Ben Ray Lujan introduced the Native American Voting Rights Act, which was renamed the Frank Harrison, Elizabeth Peratrovich and Miguel Trujillo Native American Voting Rights Act of 2021 to honor Trujillo’s legacy.