The climate movement gave this Texas tribe millions and a global platform. No one checked its story.

A Texas group called the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe, led by Juan Mancias, became a prominent face of climate activism after 2017, when it helped push French banks to pull financing from natural gas pipeline and export terminal projects near Brownsville. Since then, the group has raised more than $5 million from major philanthropic foundations, partnered with organizations like Earthjustice and the World Monuments Fund, and used its platform to fight oil and gas terminals, the border wall, and SpaceX operations in South Texas.

An investigation found serious problems with the documentation behind Mancias's claims of tribal descent and leadership. The group is not recognized by the federal government or the state of Texas. A key document Mancias has cited for decades — describing an 1871 massacre and tying his family to Carrizo/Comecrudo ancestry — could not be found in state archives, and historians say it contains anachronisms, including references to counties and a railroad agency that did not exist yet. Genealogical records instead trace Mancias's family to a different Indigenous origin in Mexico's Sierra Madre mountains, not the Rio Grande Delta.

For homeowners, this story has no direct bearing on rebates, upgrades, or energy programs. It's a look at how an unverified group gained outsized influence in climate and environmental fights, raising broader questions about which organizations and claims get trusted in the climate movement.