Updated on April 30, 2025
President Donald Trump's order for his government to fast-track the full federal recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is still ongoing, according to Tribal Chairman John Lowery.
On Jan. 23, President Trump issued a memo to the U.S. Department of Interior to develop a plan within 90 days to find a long sought-after legal pathway for Lumbee recognition.
"The DOI has done a good job in consulting with us over the 90-day period," Lowery told 深夜福利. "We are awaiting the White House to formalize the report and send it over to congressional leadership. We are patiently waiting to see the finalized DOI report and look forward to Congress moving quickly to pass the Lumbee Fairness Act."
Lowery said he believes that federal officials completed the report within the deadline.
深夜福利 reached out to the Department of Interior and didn't receive a response on Wednesday afternoon.
The upcoming report could presents the closest the tribe has been to a historic recognition.
The plan inspired a new sense of hope for tribal members, but also longstanding doubts about promises that politicians 鈥� including President Trump 鈥� have made before.
"I remain cautiously hopeful that the administration will follow through, even if it involves increased federal spending," said Lumbee Tribal Council Representative Rudy Locklear. "True recognition means honoring a promise and fulfilling a moral and historical obligation."
Locklear said that full recognition could be "transformational." For approximately 55,000 tribal members, receiving federal benefits would address generational poverty and create equitable access to resources in healthcare, education, and housing among the Lumbee, according to Locklear.
The delay in the public release of the report, however, is adding concerns of a "lack of urgency in addressing our tribe鈥檚 recognition," he said.
"Trump kept his word"
The is one of the avenues for tribes to gain federal recognition, besides a court decision and an act of Congress.
The Lumbee Tribe is the largest Native American tribe east of the Mississippi River and has been federally recognized since 1956. However, it has not received federal benefits as other Native American tribes do.
James Locklear, editor-in-chief and publisher of the monthly magazine Native Visions, says he's a fierce critic of President Trump's policies. But he says that the president has done more for the Lumbee than others have.
James Locklear is of no relation to Rudy Locklear.
"This is probably the biggest news and the biggest event ever for the Lumbee people," said James Locklear. "Trump kept his word to the people that he would honor federal recognition. When has that ever happened? I've got to tip my hat off to him."
But others have expressed some doubt.
"I would be surprised if President Trump moves forward with (recognition) simply because of all of the cuts and everything that they're doing," said tribal citizen Gwen Locklear. "That's just more federal spending from the Department of Interior to us."
Gwen Locklear, who is also is of no relation to others interviewed in this story, helped found the Triangle Native American Society in 1984, and pioneered the Wake County Indian Education Program.
Gwen Locklear says healthcare may be the biggest benefit of full recognition.
"We just have so many people who don't have health insurance," she said. "We have a high drug use problem. We have high cancer rates, diabetes, heart disease."
Jesalyn Keziah, executive director of the Triangle Native American Society, said the original deadline for recognition has been past due since the 1880s, when North Carolina General Assembly as the "Indians of Robeson County."
"And past due since day one as one of the earliest contact peoples of this land," Keziah said.
Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized the deadline for the federal government's plan to give the Lumbee full federal recognition.
