Pascua Yaqui Tribe Profile

Federally Recognized Name

Name: Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona

Headquarters

Government Headquarters:

Main Phone: (520) 883-5000

Official Website:www.pascuayaqui-nsn.gov

Overview

The Pascua Yaqui Tribe is a self-governing tribal nation whose members are descendants of the Yaqui (Yoeme) people of the Yaqui River valley in present-day Sonora, Mexico, and southern Arizona. The Tribe's primary reservation community, New Pascua, lies just southwest of Tucson, with additional Yaqui communities in Old Pascua and Barrio Libre (Tucson/South Tucson), Marana, and Guadalupe near Phoenix.

Today the Tribe exercises governmental authority over its lands and citizens under a modern constitution adopted in 1988. Tribal government provides a full range of services-government administration, health, education, public safety, housing, cultural preservation, and economic development-guided by an elected Tribal Council.

Membership

The Pascua Yaqui Tribe's citizens are enrolled members of a distinct Yaqui community whose homelands span both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Public sources report tribal enrollment in the tens of thousands, including members living on the reservation and in surrounding Yaqui communities and urban areas of Arizona.

Enrollment is administered by the Tribe's Enrollment Office pursuant to tribal law and constitutional criteria. Membership connects citizens to governmental services, cultural and religious life, and participation in tribal elections and governance.

Commercial Enterprises

The Pascua Yaqui Tribe has developed a diversified economic base centered on gaming, hospitality, entertainment, and related enterprises. Key operations include:

• Casino of the Sun:The Tribe's first major gaming facility near Tucson, offering slot machines, table games, and localentertainment in an intimate casino setting.
• Casino Del Sol:A full-service resort casino featuring slots, table games, poker, multiple dining venues, hotel accommodations, conference and event space, and the Anselmo Valencia Tori Amphitheater (AVA), which hosts regional and national entertainment.
• Hospitality and related ventures: Hotel, food-and-beverage, golf, entertainment, and event-hosting operations that support tribal employment, diversify revenue, and attract visitors from across Arizona and beyond.

Revenues from these enterprises support tribal government services, infrastructure, education and health programs, housing, cultural preservation, and charitable giving in the broader region.

Brief History

The Yaqui people traditionally lived along the Yaqui River valley in what is now Sonora, Mexico, with a cultural landscape extending north into present-day southern Arizona. Yaqui communities farmed, gathered desert foods, hunted, and traded widely with neighboring Indigenous nations.

Beginning in the 1500s, Spanish colonization and later conflicts with Mexican authorities led to centuries of warfare, forced relocation, and persecution, often referred to as the Yaqui Wars. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many Yaqui families fled north into Arizona, establishing communities such as Pascua Village and Barrio Libre in Tucson, Marana, and Guadalupe.

In 1964, the United States deeded approximately 202 acres near Tucson to the Pascua Yaqui community, laying the foundation for a formal reservation. On September 18, 1978, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona received federal recognition, affirming its government-to-government relationship with the United States. The Tribe adopted a written constitution in 1988 and has since expanded its land base, governmental capacity, and economic enterprises while maintaining a strong cultural and religious life, including renowned Lenten and Easter ceremonies that give "Pascua" (Easter) its name.