CHEROKEE, N.C. — President Michell Hicks of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians issued a statement on Wednesday regarding a letter sent to President Donald Trump, claiming that Tiffany Trump has “ancestral ties.”
Hicks said the letter was a part of a “lobbying push” that shows “how far the Lumbee are willing to go.”
The Lumbee have been lobbying for federal recognition since the 1980s, ABC11 reports. Trump signed a memorandum in January to establish a process for federal recognition of the Lumbee Tribe.
For years, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has pushed back against the national recognition of the Lumbee. The Lumbee previously identified as the “Cherokee Indians of Robeson County,” according to the Charlotte Observer.
“Lobbying tactics and name association are not proof of sovereignty,” Hicks said. “They are signs of desperation, and desperation is not legitimacy.”
If the Lumbee were to gain federal recognition, they would surpass the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians as the largest federally recognized tribe east of the Mississippi River, 55,000 to 13,000.
Hicks argued that a “true tribe” would not need to have ties like that to Tiffany Trump to be federally recognized.
“If you are a true tribe, if you carry your history, your culture, and your government through the generations, you do not need to search for celebrity ancestors or political connections to prove your identity,” he wrote. “A true tribal nation’s identity speaks for itself.”
In the letter, the Lumbee stated that Tiffany Trump would not be eligible for membership, but that she may be connected to their tribe through her ancestors nonetheless.
Tiffany Trump’s grandmother was Laura Ann Locklear, and according to the Curt & Catherine Locklear American Indian Heritage Center, a majority of Locklears are Lumbee Indians.
The Lumbee Indians are still on a path to federal recognition, but the House and the Senate have yet to approve legislation to recognize the tribe.
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