The first time Santa decided to only bring presents to some children at the annual Chukchansi Christmas with Santa Breakfast several years ago, parents were not warned.
Children received presents if they had descendants given government-awarded allotment lands , or if they belonged to one of two families that helped reestablish the tribe in the 80s.
The other children -- whose parents are also legal, enrolled members of the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians by proving they are lineal descendants of a Chukchansi ancestor -- did not receive gifts.
Most children did not understand the separation. Some cried.
This holiday season, the tribe cut off gifts to more than just their children. Chukchansi families whose only claim to membership is their blood, called "petitioners" by the tribe, received disenrollment letters two weeks ago from the tribe.
An estimated 200 disenrollment letters arrived in mailboxes, members said. These letters arrived shortly after 55 other tribal members were disenrolled earlier this month.
Many that received the newest batch of letters say they trace their lineage back to the last Chukchansi chief, Chief Hawa and his daughter Princess Malliot. According to Fresno Bee archives from the 1950s, the Chukchansi princess and her Swedish husband owned a large ranch where the rancheria is today.
Disenrollments center on greed over casino profits, old family feuds, and a lost connection with what it means to be native, many have said.
Many tribal members interviewed for this story spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions from tribal council.
A tribal disenrollment means members lose monthly casino stipends, what were about $280 last month, along with all funds provided through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, including assistance with housing, education, medical, dental, elderly assistance and child care.
Disenrollments are nothing new for the tribe, which has disenrolled an estimated 400 to 500 of its members since its inception, said Laura Wass, Central California director for the American Indian Movement and a leading advocate for disenrolled Indians. Of at least 12 tribes in California currently disenrolling members, 10 have casinos, Wass said.
According to the Chukchansi Constitution, a person is a legal Chukchansi tribal member if they are a "distributee" -- related to the Wyatt or Ramirez family granted power by the government in the 80s to help reform the tribe -- an "allottee" related to a descendant given one of the original Chukchansi allotment lands in the 1800s -- or a "petitioner," a Chukchansi who falls under neither category, but is a lineal descendant of a Chukchansi ancestor, and who petitioned for membership into the tribe no later than two years following the constitution's ratification in the late 80s.
According to the latest batch of disenrollment letters, members failed to meet one of the three criteria listed above.
Many said they have been legally enrolled since the beginning, part of the tribe's original "600" list, and were asked to join the tribe by Jane Wyatt in the 80s when she was trying to reestablish the tribe. Previous disenrollments also already weeded out those who enrolled as petitioners past the cut-off date, others said.
In 2007, one Chukchansi youth, born in the early 90s, was found to have been born a year too late to be a member, according to a family member. After growing up his whole life as an enrolled member, he was disenrolled by the tribe. His older sibling, born a few years before him, was allowed to stay in.
"After that happened he just got so lost, he didn't feel like he was a part of the bigger picture anymore," said one family member. "He didn't have his people anymore. For two weeks he just cried and cried and cried. He was 16 then. It was a horrible, horrible thing."
After that, he started feeling very disconnected from the rest of his family still enrolled, members said. The young man later tried to go to college, but without a Chukchansi scholarship like his older sibling, it was hard, and he dropped out.
Now all of his family have received disenrollment letters. Many disenrollment hearings will be held the second week in December at the rancheria. As stated in their letters, they will have 15 minutes before their hearings to view evidence presented against them.
Tribal council declined to comment for this story.
John Gomez, president of the American Indian Rights and Resources Organization, said to stop disenrollments, Congress needs to give the Indian Civil Rights Act enforceability, or the Bureau of Indian Affairs needs to step in regarding enrollment disputes, what they have historically stayed out of.
For now, many members said they hope Tribal Council elections Dec. 3 will help set things right.
Rick Cuevas, author of the Original Pechanga blog, created after hundreds in his tribe were disenrolled, said all people can help stop what's happening to thousands of American Indian people across the country.
"Our government exercised it's moral outrage at South Africa by divesting from business there until they changed their apartheid policies. Our state and federal government should do the same thing," Cuevas said. "They should not attend functions at tribes that practice apartheid on their reservation or that have stripped their members citizenship ... These are big money, small population tribes: The entire membership of the Redding Rancheria will now fit into four school buses; you'd only need two for the San Manuel adults. Pechanga's membership wouldn't even fill the closest high school football stadium ... on the visitor's side. Yet their money is enough to run the local politicians."
For a previous story, Tribal Council Chairman Reggie Lewis said the tribe had about 1,500 members as of September.
Wass said the real number is lower, and that Chukchansi has its sights on disenrolling hundreds more by misinterpreting language in its constitution.
One phrase of concern is regarding needing a "special relationship" to be part of the tribe. Many members said they fear it will be used to disenroll families whose ancestors sold their allotment lands, or that live outside a five-mile radius of the rancheria since a new boundary map has been drawn.
"Twenty years down the line there is not going to be a tribe unless they promote incest," said one Chukchansi elder. "The elders are angry because of the things that have been done to our people. How shameful is it that we are now eliminating our own people? How sick are we? Is money so great that we can not see past the greenback?"
"Our blood tells us we are Chukchansi," said another Chukchansi elder. "We are brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents to each other. A tribe is many families come together to protect and support each other. We are family. Our blood says so. Why are others saying that's not so? I know why. It's not greed, but ignorance and the loss of what a tribe really is: Family.
"We don't need money to be Chukchansi. Our blood says we are. We don't need a casino to be Chukchansi. Our blood tells us we are. None of these things ties us together as family, except our blood.
"Our blood holds the history of our people. Not the land. The land is just a setting for our story. And the location has changed with the seasons and hardships ... Some of our relations in the past sold their land in times of hardship to take care of their families ... These lands are not what makes us who we are ... The governing body of the tribe needs to think long and hard about their actions ... Don't lose sight of the fact we are all connected.
"We are family! We are a tribe! We are Chukchansi!"