Cherokee Oppose Native Tribe’s Recognition Bid Hidden Inside Defense Bill

Largest East Coast Tribe Nears Victory

The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is days away from ending a 137-year fight for full federal recognition.

The U.S. House just passed a defense spending bill with Lumbee recognition tucked inside, and the Senate vote comes next week.

But the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is pushing back hard, arguing the Lumbee have never proven they descend from a historical tribe.

The Cherokee say bypassing the federal acknowledgment process sets a dangerous precedent, one that could let any group claim tribal status without evidence.

What happens next could reshape federal Indian policy for decades.

Cherokee Say Lumbee Skipped the Line

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, North Carolina’s only federally recognized tribe, argues the Lumbee should go through the Office of Federal Acknowledgment like everyone else.

That process requires tribes to prove genealogy, treaty history, and continuous political authority. Principal Chief Michell Hicks says the Lumbee have never met these standards.

He called the congressional shortcut “deeply disappointing and alarming,” warning it abandons the evidence-based process that protects all tribal nations.

The Cherokee have opposed Lumbee recognition since at least 1910.

The House Just Passed the Bill

On December 11, 2025, the U.S. House passed the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act by a vote of 312-112.

The Lumbee Fairness Act was inserted into the 3,000-page defense spending bill, a strategy supporters used because the NDAA is considered must-pass legislation.

Lumbee Tribal Chairman John Lowery watched the vote from Washington and thanked President Trump for keeping recognition a priority during negotiations. The Senate is expected to vote on final passage this week.

A 137-Year Fight for Recognition

The Lumbee first petitioned the federal government for recognition in 1888. Since then, more than 30 bills have been introduced in Congress to grant them full status.

The House has passed similar legislation seven times since 1988, but each effort stalled in the Senate. Western state senators with large tribal populations repeatedly blocked the measures.

North Carolina recognized the Lumbee in 1885, three years before they first asked Washington for the same. The tribe has about 60,000 members, making it the largest east of the Mississippi River.

The 1956 Law That Gave and Took

President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Lumbee Act in 1956, during the termination era when the federal government was ending relationships with tribes across the country.

The law acknowledged the Lumbee as an American Indian nation but specifically denied them federal benefits and services.

Congress terminated its relationship with 109 tribes during this period, and most have since been restored. The Lumbee remain the only tribe still stuck under termination-era policy.

Supporters say Congress created this problem and only Congress can fix it.

The Lumbee Changed Names Multiple Times

Over the past century, the Lumbee have identified under several different names, which critics point to as evidence of unclear ancestry.

North Carolina first recognized them as “Croatan Indians” in 1885, based on a theory linking them to the Lost Colony of Roanoke. In 1913, the state changed their designation to “Cherokee Indians of Robeson County.”

The tribe voted to adopt the name “Lumbee” in 1952, taken from the Lumber River that runs through their territory. The shifting identity claims remain central to Cherokee opposition.

Cheraw Ancestry Is the Current Claim

The Lumbee now say they descend from Cheraw and other Siouan-speaking tribes who settled along the Lumber River in the 1700s. Anthropologists from the Smithsonian Institution supported this theory in a 1933 report.

The tribe’s petition states their ancestors were survivors from the Algonquian, Iroquoian, and Siouan language families who gathered in the swamplands of Robeson County to escape European settlers.

Land records from the mid-1700s show people with Lumbee surnames living near Drowning Creek, later renamed the Lumber River.

Cherokee Say Identity Claims Are Unproven

Chief Michell Hicks argues the Lumbee have no treaty relationships with the federal government, no distinct language, and no documented lineage to a single historical tribe.

The Cherokee point out that the Lumbee called themselves Cherokee for 40 years and sought federal recognition under that name, which all three Cherokee nations rejected.

Hicks says allowing congressional recognition without evidentiary review would open the door for any group to claim tribal status. More than 100 tribes have joined the Cherokee in opposing the Lumbee bid.

Trump Made It a Campaign Promise

Donald Trump promised during a September 2024 rally in North Carolina that he would sign legislation granting the Lumbee full federal recognition. Kamala Harris made the same pledge.

Three days after taking office in January 2025, Trump signed a memo directing the Interior Department to create a plan for Lumbee recognition.

The department sent its report to the White House in April but advised the tribe to continue pursuing Congress.

Robeson County, the heart of Lumbee territory, flipped from Democratic to Republican in 2016 and has backed Trump by widening margins ever since.

What Full Recognition Would Bring

If the Senate passes the NDAA, the Lumbee would gain access to healthcare through Indian Health Services, a major benefit for a community where many members are uninsured.

They would also qualify for federal housing programs and education funding.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated in 2022 that full recognition would cost $363 million over five years.

Robeson County is one of the most impoverished areas in North Carolina, with unemployment running well above the state average.

The Casino Factor Looms Large

Full federal recognition would allow the Lumbee to build a casino, likely along Interstate 95 in southeastern North Carolina.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee operates casinos in western North Carolina that have distributed up to $14,000 per year to adult members.

Chief Hicks says casino competition is not the basis of Cherokee opposition, but he warns that any group claiming tribal status could open gaming operations if standards are lowered.

State lawmakers proposed a Lumbee casino in 2023 as part of a broader gambling expansion, though that plan stalled.

The Senate Vote Decides Everything

The Senate is expected to vote on the NDAA as early as this week. Both North Carolina senators, Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, support Lumbee recognition.

Tillis has called the Eastern Band a “casino cartel” and accused them of paying lobbyists to block the Lumbee.

If the bill passes and Trump signs it, the Lumbee will become the 575th federally recognized tribe in the United States. They will have waited 137 years, longer than any other tribe that eventually gained recognition.

The Cherokee say that wait should continue until the Lumbee prove who they are.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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