By Patty Roe, Guest Columnist
A recent NBC News investigation by reporter Laken Kincaid is drawing renewed attention to growing concerns among tribal leaders about efforts to bypass the longstanding evidence-based process for federal tribal recognition – specifically in the case of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.
The report reveals that on Jan. 23, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing the Department of the Interior to explore pathways to recognize the Lumbee Tribe outside the standard federal process. That move has sparked alarm among federally recognized tribes who warn it could open the door to politicized recognition unbound by historical evidence.
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Principal Chief Michell Hicks told NBC News, “We’ve always known who we were and where we came from, and the difficulty with the Lumbee group is they’ve attempted to attach to a number of historical tribal and nontribal names, trying to identify themselves.”
For decades, the federal government has relied on the Office of Federal Acknowledgment to evaluate tribal recognition petitions through a rigorous process requiring documented continuity of community, governance, and descent from a historical tribe. The OFA’s criteria are considered essential for preserving the integrity of federal recognition and protecting the hard-fought rights of existing tribes.
Chief Brad KillsCrow of the Delaware Tribe of Indians echoed these concerns, telling NBC, “There’s a process that has been put in place, a process that we all have gone through ...
“Don’t try to take a back door and not do what everybody else has, and then get federal recognition.”
The implications go far beyond questions of fairness. According to the United Indian Nations of Oklahoma, recognizing the Lumbee Tribe could cost taxpayers an estimated $1.75 billion in the first five years alone, raising serious concerns about the diversion of critical resources from tribes that have met the federal standards through years of exhaustive documentation and review.
Although the executive order required the Department of the Interior to produce a report outlining possible paths to recognition, tribal leaders note that the report – completed within 90 days – has never been publicly released. The department has declined to comment on its contents, prompting further concern about transparency and political influence.
At stake, tribal leaders argue, is the very foundation of tribal sovereignty and
the integrity of the government-to-government relationship. Any group seeking federal recognition should be held to the same evidentiary standards as the hundreds of other petitioners who have come before them.
As more tribes speak out, it’s clear that the push for legislative recognition of the Lumbee Tribe – without the required historical proof – continues to face growing resistance, not only in Washington but across Indian Country.
Submitted for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.