Trump Orders Fast-Track for Lumbee Recognition, Stirring Pushback From Other Tribes

President Donald Trump has directed the Department of the Interior to craft an alternative pathway for granting the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina full federal recognition, bypassing the lengthy process normally overseen by the Office of Federal Acknowledgment, as per NBC News.

The move fulfills a campaign pledge but has alarmed leaders of already recognized Native nations, who warn it could upend decades-old standards for establishing tribal sovereignty.

Signed during the first week of Trump’s second term, the order instructs Interior officials to propose “all viable administrative mechanisms” to approve the Lumbee petition, which has languished in Congress for years. Federal recognition would make the 55,000-member tribe eligible for health, education and economic-development programs and would confer formal government-to-government status.

“We look forward to the White House formalizing the document and sending it over to congressional leadership,” Lumbee Chairman John L. Lowery said in a statement to local media.

Under rules created in 1978, petitioning groups must prove continuous identity dating to before the United States was founded, show political authority over their members since at least 1900 and document genealogies distinct from other recognized tribes. The OFA has granted recognition to 574 tribes that cleared that bar.

The Lumbee Act of 1956 acknowledged the North Carolina group as “Indian people” but specifically barred a federal relationship. Multiple bills to overturn that restriction have stalled amid opposition from other tribes mistrustful of the Lumbees’ historical claims.

Chief Michell Hicks of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians said a rigorous, uniform test is essential.

“We’ve always known who we were,” he told NBC News. “If you create shortcuts, it erodes the diligence of the current process.”

Brad KillsCrow, chief of the Delaware Tribe of Indians, echoed that view.

“Every one of the 574 tribes proved who they were. Don’t take a back door and get recognition when others had to meet the standards,” he said.

KillsCrow also warned that federal benefits are finite; the Congressional Budget Office has estimated recognition could cost more than $350 million in new outlays.

Trump repeatedly promised recognition during campaign stops in Robeson County, home to the Lumbee headquarters, where he won 63 percent of the vote in 2024. Critics say that makes tribal status a partisan bargaining chip.

“Tying recognition to election results risks Native voices being ignored whenever power changes hands,” KillsCrow said.