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Mullin Holds a Press Conference with Lumbee Tribal Leaders in North Carolina, Oct. 23, 2026

October 23, 2026 · U.S. Department of Homeland Security · 1:35:06

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin held a press conference with Lumbee tribal leaders in North Carolina, in the Department of Homeland Security’s upload of the October 23, 2026 event, alongside Congressman David Rouzer and local leaders, to highlight the importance of tribal nations working together with the federal government to secure the homeland, as the department described the event.

Mullin, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, opened by saying it was good to be back in Lumbee country and spoke of growing up in Indian country and the unique challenges tribal communities face, as he stated them. Tribal speakers at the press conference noted, as they stated it, that the Lumbee waited about 133 years for federal recognition, credited Rouzer with a key role in securing it, and welcomed a Homeland Security secretary who is himself a tribal member. The discussion, as the participants framed it, covered the drug problem inside tribal communities and working with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Justice Department to stand up tribal courts and get equipment and procurement support to tribal law enforcement, and — through FEMA, which sits inside DHS — tribal access to disaster assistance the speakers said the Lumbee had not been able to reach before, as they continued cleanup from Hurricanes Matthew and Florence.

Why it matters

The Lumbee event is Mullin’s tribal-nations case in person: a Cherokee secretary carrying the department’s security partnership to a newly federally recognized tribe in North Carolina, with the FEMA tribal component — disaster aid, not just enforcement — as one of the concrete benefits the participants named on the record.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: the tribal partnership commitments described at the October 23, 2026 press conference — tribal-court and law-enforcement support with BIA and the Justice Department, and FEMA tribal disaster access for the Lumbee, all as the participants stated them. Flagged for the scoreboard editor; no entry is published from this page.

Sources: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “WATCH: Sec. Mullin Holds Press Conference Highlighting the Importance of Working with Tribal Nations” (official upload, Oct. 24, 2026, embedded above; event of Oct. 23, 2026 per the department’s description; remarks as delivered by Secretary Mullin, Congressman Rouzer, and Lumbee leaders).