OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – When Kamala Harris And Donald Trump While campaigning in North Carolina, both candidates courted a state-recognized tribe whose 55,000 members could have helped swing the swing state.

Trump promised in September that he would sign legislation granting federal recognition to the Lumbee Tribe, a distinction that would unlock access to federal funds. He ultimately won North Carolina by more than 3 percentage points, thanks in part to continued support from Lumbee voters.

Now, as Trump prepares to return to the White House in January, that promise will be tested. He has Republican allies in Congress on the issue, and now the Lumbee, along with tribal nations across the country, are closely watching what happens next.

Tribal nations typically receive federal recognition through an application to the Department of the Interior, but the Lumbee have tried for many years to circumvent that process through Congress. Chairman John Lowery called Interior’s application process “flawed” and too long and said it should be up to Congress to right what he calls a historic wrong.

“It’s just crazy that we’re sitting here fighting this battle, and I have to tell you, I’m real in 2024,” Lowery said.

After the presidential election, the Lumbee hope their cause will find momentum, but they face deep-rooted opposition from tribal nations across the country.

Questions arise about Trump’s next move

Several tribes, including the only federally recognized one in North Carolina, argue that if the Lumbee Tribe wants federal recognition, it should go through the Department of the Interior’s formal process. A person familiar with Trump’s thinking said the president-elect would demand that the Lumbee tribe do just that, and that he would not sign a Lumbee recognition bill. The person requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about Trump’s views.

Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said “no policy should be considered official unless it comes directly from President Trump.”

Federal recognition is critically important because it comes with access to resources such as health care through Indian Health Services and the ability to create a land base such as reservations through the process transfer of land into trust. But before that happens, a tribal nation must file an application with the Office of Federal Recognition, an Interior Department.

The Lumbee Tribe requested federal recognition, but this request was denied in 1985 because it “could not establish the group’s descent, whether culturally, politically, or genealogically, from a tribe that existed historically in the region”.

In 2016, Interior reversed a decision barring the Lumbee tribe from reapplying, but the Lumbee opted to go the congressional route.

Obtaining federal recognition through legislation is a rare but not unprecedented route. But Lumbee’s approach has fueled a simmering debate in Indian Country and Congress over Native identity and tribal nationhood.

The Lumbee received support from members of both parties

Members of Congress from both parties have supported recognition of the Lumbee through legislation, including Oklahoma Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin, a member of the Cherokee Nation who campaigned for Trump in North Carolina and supported the legislation.

But perhaps the state-recognized tribe’s most ardent ally in Congress is North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who is up for re-election in 2026.

Tillis presented the Lumbee Fairness Law last year and has been a strong supporter of the Lumbee. In interviews with The Associated Press, several tribal leaders, lobbyists and advocates said Tillis told them directly or through his staff that the senator was currently blocking and would continue to block certain bills supported by tribal nations unless the Leaders of these tribes do not support the bill. Lumbee.

One of the bills he has promised to block, according to people interviewed by the AP, is a land transfer that would allow the Tennessee Valley Authority to return 70 acres of land to the Eastern Strip of the Cherokee Indians, the only federally recognized tribal nation in the Tillis region. State. This would allow the tribe to put land in Monroe County, Tennessee, into trust. The land is part of the tribal nation’s native lands and contains the birthplace of Sequoyah.

“It’s terrible for me. It’s shameful,” said Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. He said Tillis told him earlier this year that he would stop any legislation regarding the Eastern Strip unless Hicks pledged his support.

Hicks is among the tribal leaders who question the validity of the Lumbee’s historical claims, and he said that’s out of the question. About a century ago, the Lumbee were known as the Cherokee Indians of Robeson County, and for many years now, the three Cherokee tribes – the Eastern Band, the Cherokee Nation, and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians – denounced this phenomenon. and strongly opposed granting Lumbee federal recognition.

Representatives for Tillis declined to comment.

Tillis last week delayed a bill that would have allowed preservation of the Wounded Knee massacre site. In doing so, he pointed the finger at leaders of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, who supported the preservation measure, for not supporting his efforts to recognize the Lumbee at the federal level.

“It’s not about you,” Tillis told the two tribal nations, who he acknowledged had been trying for a century to preserve the massacre site. “But you should know that your leaders are playing a game that will ultimately force me to take a stand.”

Tillis suggested it was a “casino cartel” partly run by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and an Osage lawyer named Wilson Pipestem working for the tribe, who is trying to prevent the Lumbee from being recognized , which could one day lead to the Lumbee. opening their own casinos. Tillis threatened to continue publicly naming tribal leaders and their employees who he said were obstructing his bill.

In a statement to the AP, Pipestem said Tillis should “apologize to tribal leaders for his false allegations and unscrupulous tactics.”

Lowery acknowledged that Tillis delayed both pieces of legislation, but he said Tillis did not do so under Lumbee’s leadership.

“The reason he suspended the bill is because he contacted tribal leaders to find out their position on his bill, and they apparently told him they did not support it,” said Lowery. “So he said, ‘Well, if you can’t support my bill, I can’t support your bill.’ »

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