LIVE: DHS Secretary Mullin Holds Press Conference on Tribal Nations

Well, thank you, everybody, for being here. It's great to be in Lumbee Country inside of North Carolina. I think the last time I was here was with Dick Abbott and Don Jewel. That wasn't the last time. We talked a lot over the years after that. But it's really good to be back. You know, being Cherokee, I always grew up in Indian Country. And so you kind of get this thing that you never know that you're special for being, as I say, Indian until you leave Indiana. Because my kids were raised there, I was raised there, everybody was raised there. And so you kind of get used to the unique challenges that you have in Indiana. When I walked in, or when I was driving down the road right before we got here, I looked over and I recognized a house. And I was like, that's Indian House. That's a three-bedroom, one-and-a-half, maybe two-bath now because they've straightened up a 1,500-square-foot cardboard house. Why? Because I grew up in one. And then you start looking at some of the challenges you have with health care. You start looking at some of the challenges we have with law enforcement. And it's unique. And Lumbees are the most unique because while you have some of the challenges you wasn't recognized at the same time, and now you're becoming recognized we are recognized and it's this new footprint and challenges that's going to face the tribe is so worth it because it's about our heritage and it's about generational changes but also keeping generations plugged in to the heritage that we all grew up with the stories that we grew up hearing but one thing that we can say is protecting our backyard is important and for some reason and for the last thing i can't understand it for some reason Department of Homeland Security has become controversial you're like why why is it that protecting our homeland it's controversial all of us want to be safe in our backyard all of us want to be safe in our city all of us want to be safe in our city we all want the criminals out of our streets we should do that and that shouldn't be controversial why is it and i'm not trying to get down in politics but i have asked this to myself multiple times why is protecting our homeland why is the department of homeland been shut down four years or four times in less than a year by one party and you go i don't get that why is it enforcing immigration policy controversial we have we're the national laws we're not a national law and i our homeland we don't make that's not our that's not our job We enforce it. And those that want to complain about it are the people that made the laws. And they can change it if they choose to. And guess what? If they changed it, we would enforce it. Because we're not picking and choosing, we're simply enforcing it. Because if we don't enforce our nation's laws, we become a lawless nation. And that's unique because we have those unique challenges also on the reservation. All throughout any country, we have these same challenges. And we can see what happens. It can erode the society that we grew up in. In our backyards, throughout all Indian country, and it's went to our cities and communities too, we've faced alcoholism for how long? How many generations? Drug abuse. What was unique about the houses I saw here is they look fresh and clean. Some of the places I've looked at, it has three and four generations that live in the same house. Sometimes it has three generations living in the same house. It has grandparents raising great-grandkids because we've lost two generations, three generations. And once again, it's not controversial. You can see the results. When President Trump got in, immediately we started going after those that broke the law and entered the country illegally. We started going after the worst of the worst. And what happened is we saw criminal activity drop, homicides rate down to 126, violent crime down 40, 50 years low. We're seeing fentanyl overdoses collapse. We're seeing drug overdoses. And keep in mind, last year in fentanyl overdoses, we had more people die from fentanyl overdoses than we lost in the entire Vietnam War in this country. This year, we're going to break that trend. It's simply by going after the worst of the worst and not allowing them out on the street. The reason why I'm here today is because, unfortunately, we've seen North Carolina. I was talking all the way over here. The North Carolina doesn't seem like a liberal state. It just isn't. It's not. But yet, we've had leadership in this state that's turned the world around and put them back on the ground. When DHS has asked for retainers on individuals that may be in the North Carolina state penitentiary, they're saying, hey, before you let this person back out on the streets, let us pick them up and ship them out because they're illegal in this country to begin with. And that crime they committed, they shouldn't have ever committed because they shouldn't have ever been in this country to begin with. And so before you turn them back on your streets, let us arrest them and deport them. And we've had a governor in the past, and unfortunately, we have hurdles today that we seem to can't get past. And we can do better. And I know who's standing there with us to enforce the nation's law. And I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. You guys have been friends from the very first time we met. And it's simple. What you guys were asking for to be recognized was simple. You deserved it. It wasn't because you earned it. It's because you are. And it's the same thing when we start talking about our community. It shouldn't be because we aren't expected. We should all expect everybody that enters this country, expect the process you go through. We can all say we're blessed to be in this. Maybe we're a little spoiled. Maybe people around the world can say, well, you're born with a silver spoon. We say that, but the truth is America doesn't give you anything. Let's just say 130 years or better, you guys never gave up on the fight. You guys were fighting from one generation to the next generation. The generation that's sitting in front of me, the secretary, thank you. I want to say this. As secretary of Homeland, I'm never giving up fighting for my backyard. Every day, no care if you support me or you don't support me, no care if you're red state or you're blue state, I will protect my backyard with such an honor. I'll tell you, other than my wife who said yes to me, my, I don't know, but she said yes. other than that the fact that she felt sorry for me thank you chairman um there may have been a part of that back then i'm pretty sure i was like homeless or something back then i did have a nice truck though i sold two cows and two calves that's when you can actually afford to buy stuff um but i i was i was i say this because um i i to be secretary of homeland i'm telling you probably probably one of the biggest owners of the mall because it's the great mission we have. I've got some other people that want to come here and speak, and after they speak, we're going to take some questions. But once again, thank you, and a warm welcome, too. So with that, I'll turn it over to Billy Kirkland. Thank you, Secretary. I'll be brief as well, but I do want to say I'm the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, Department of Interior. Excited to be here. This is one of the privileges of the job is getting to really communicate and interact with the folks that you serve. And I can tell you, there's no better community to serve the Lumbee folks. You know, and the Lumbee, one thing I've learned about them, I've known the leadership here in the Lumbee for, man, going back almost 10 years now. One thing I can tell you is they're patient people, not just the leadership, but the tribal members are patient. And you know what? It's their virtue, but I don't know if it was a choice either because they did wait, as the secretary mentioned, about 133 years to be finally recognized. So the one thing I know is they're patient, and that's going to be good when you're dealing with the BIA in some cases. But I also want to mention and really hone in on how important today is. Having Secretary Mullen here, being able to be here as part of the Department of the Interior, and knowing the support and the friendship and relationship they have with the White House and President Trump, it really shows the government-to-government relationship. It shows the priorities they have. And the Lumbee know that in order to have a strong North Carolina, it's the Lumbee nation, the Lumbee are strong North Carolina. And the first step to doing that is making sure that people are safe and secure. If you want to bring jobs to security, if you want to bring capital and blood infusion in to stimulate the economy, to have a better education, folks have to. And the administration has a partner with the Lumbee and their leadership with Secretary Mullen making sure that it happens in the Lumbee community. We're also excited to have the Congressman here, Congressman Rutherford, who played a key role in making sure the Lumbees got their federal recognition. So, one, I want to say thanks for that, but also, thank you very much. It's always great to be in Lumbee country, and Mr. Secretary, it's incredibly wonderful. In fact, the chairman ordered up the best weather ever been, as you know. But let me tell you, there are several people behind the scenes that did incredible work to ensure that the Lumbees got their rightfully deserved recognition. and this guy was just absolutely incredible. He was Tom Tillis' right-hand man. In fact, did a lot that no one will ever know about to get Lumbee recognition across the finish line. And then I see our friend Michael Watley out in the audience there. He did an incredible job behind the scenes too, pushing at every possible moment to get this across the finish line. I was just happy to be a facilitator. In the House, we included it on the NDAA bill because we knew no one could vote against the NDAA bill. So once we got that amendment passed on the NDAA, I knew we had a really great shot in the U.S. Senate to get it across the finish line. And this guy right here was a real key to making that happen. And I'll have to say, Mr. Secretary, I agree with what you were saying earlier. I have found that a lot of people, they forget why we even have a Department of Homeland Security. We all remember 9-11. 9-11 showcased all the vulnerabilities that we have. And Congress went to work and created the Department of Homeland Security so that we would never have another 9-11 again. And so far, that's held true. And that's held true because of the work of this man and everybody else that is employed to serve the nation in that capacity. This fellow right here, Mark Wayne Mullen, not only is he a good friend, but I say this as an objective observer. He's probably the best Secretary of Homeland Security that we've had in this country. And the thing I love about the Secretary, he's got a great heart. He's got a great heart. Years ago, a longtime friend, Jim Graham, who was our Commissioner of Agriculture for a long time, 36 years ago, he was on the phone. He told me something I never forgot. He said, son, always keep a tough hide, but have a tender heart. And this guy right here has probably got the most tender heart of anybody I've ever served with in the U.S. Congress. He is a good man, a great man. Has an even greater wife. Where are you, sir? Back there? Yeah, I don't know how you made that work. You really pulled one over on him. It might be. But anyhow, it's been a great honor to work with him. and all the different capacities we've had the opportunity to work together. And it's also been a great honor to work with this guy right here, your chairman, John Lowry. John Lowry has done a tremendous job for Lumbee County, and I can assure you we would have never been able to achieve Lumbee recognition without all his work and all the work of each of you. And the thing that really moved me when I first had all of Watson County in my congressional district, I've only got a portion of it now, unfortunately, I wish I still had all of them, but when we went to work on this, what really touched me was your faith, your commitment, the moral and spiritual values that you share, that you demonstrate day in and day out. God was looking after us. Mr. Chairman. We are honored on behalf of the Lumbee Nation, Secretary Mullen, thank you for being here. This is an honor to have him with us and to also have Assistant Secretary Billy Kirkland, another friend of the Lumbee Nation, to be here with us talking and working together. Congressman Rouser, thank you very much for being here. Thank you for being a leader when it comes to fighting for our people in the House. Congressman Rouser, he was with us. He shot to a straight all the way, from the very first time I met him, all the way to the passage. He was straight up with us. He told us what was going on, and I've always appreciated that very much. And he's also just a great guy to work with. He's got a great staff, Anna, Bubba, and others on his staff. And also, Secretary, who was Senator from the state of Oklahoma, we do thank you for all of your efforts. I've heard additional stories about you and your efforts since my bill passed. I know for a fact that you had to run interference between Senator Tillis and other Senators. You had to go between the Senators and also the White House as well. So we got a guy here who is not only trusted by Senator Tillis, he's also trusted by President Trump to help get this carried out. And that's what a lot of people do not understand. You don't get bills like ours passed just on hope and prayer. You get bills like ours passed on hope and prayer. Before this bill You know, one day somebody is going to actually do a book about all this and actually talk about what all transpired in the last four years to get our bills passed. A lot of hard work, a lot of people took a lot of different discussions going on, pushing, pulling, dragging. And, I mean, even all the way up to the floor vote in the House, these guys were having to put their arms on the floor as the vote was occurring. And then even in the Senate, believe it or not, as you guys were pushing it all through December 18th, you know, back home we had people calling, are they pulling the bill out? Is that the reason why it's not going to the floor? And we were like, no, there's some Senate doing a procedural thing. You ain't got nothing. Oh, it's all right. We'll try again. I'm like, it's in there. Trust me. It's in there. This has nothing to do with us. As much as we thought it was, you know, it was about us, the NDAA, that little delay there from D-16 to D-17, that had nothing to do with us. But still, our people had talked so much that you still had doubt, right? Like, oh, man, we almost had it. But we got it done. And with that passage over, it is our job as a federated tribe to build partnerships with federal agencies, to work with federal agencies, because at the end of the day, they have certain resources, they have certain responsibilities, and as a tribe, we want to ensure that we carry out those responsibilities to us. And at the same time, we want to be a good partner and work with them. Our people do serve at a very high rate in terms of serving the military. We have individuals serving in different capacities throughout the federal government in security matters. And so, you know, we do want our homeland safe. One of the biggest issues that we have here is drugs. We've had to fight them among our tribal communities for years. And that's one of the areas that I look forward to working with the secretary on, is how can we battle the internal drug use and drug abuse that goes on here. You can't have drug use and drug abuse without asking about who's delivering the drugs, and we need to find out who's delivering the drugs, and we need to find out who's helping to orchestrate this. I know that the sheriff here, he and his team have done a great job, and I look forward to us all working together through Department of Homeland Security, the sheriff, and other local law enforcement agencies working together, to weed out these drug pushers into our community. We've had a lot of drug overdoses here and there. It's about who's selling the drugs. You don't become a user of a user. You don't drug overdose. You've got somebody. But it's very much time for us to start doing what they've got to do. So let's go weed out. And so I'm going to say this on TV. We know who they are. You know who they are. We're living in the communities. We're living in the neighborhoods. We're going to start taking up the drug for use. We're going to start taking up drug use. We're going to start taking up the person who is over there trying to be a gift. You know what I'm saying, too? You know who to joke about as long as you're a gift. That's part of the conversation we have. But anyway, thank you all for being here. I appreciate it. I look forward to working with you guys. Isn't this a great day to be here to know that Secretary of Security is here, and a member of the Cherokee Nation, a native to hold that position, a second native to hold a secretary position in the history of the United States. And to be honest with you, if anybody's going to be, and to be honest with you, if anybody's going to be over Homeland Security, I'm glad it is a tribal member. So, Secretary, you keep doing what you're doing. Congressman Rosner, thank you for all your support. Thank you very much. Assistant Secretary Kirkland, we look forward to continuing to build this relationship that we have with you and continue to push forward and work with you in your administration. Thank you. Chairman, I never really thought of it that way before, but it's kind of funny I uh I you know I have, I don't think, yeah I but that was he he talked about my kind of heart but he left out the fact that I do have a tough hide too I mean yes I mean my dad panned it many times I had it coming um but thank you for the kind words uh Roger that was that was unexpected um I do value the friendship. I do miss the camaraderie I had in the house And, you know, he was talking about running the blocker for Tillis You know, Tom is so good And if you know Tom, Tom is either, well you know where you stand with him every time Fortunately, Tom and I, we stood very close We saw eye to eye I always tell him I'm so much better looking than him And he goes, yeah, but I can apply some surgery and make myself prettier. You can't get yourself any taller. Kind of like a running joke But, you know, somebody that wasn't on the floor of the House wasn't on the floor in the Senate but was in the presence here that was helping get the Lumbee's recognition across the finish line was Michael Walker And I don't think, I know we talked about that Chairman, a while ago before we came up here but it was a full court everybody and every friend you had was involved in getting this done it didn't we didn't just run the clock out i tell people all the time policy is important but timing is the most important but you got to have the policy ready for when the timing is right and when the timing is right you push everybody in and it was everybody every friend you had uh was calling and from from Rouser in the house to Tillis and myself in the senate to Watley from the outside the outside groups which he had connections with everybody making phone calls for the right people to get this done and it wouldn't have happened without without that so thank you so much once again for letting me be here chairman once again thank you so much for your friendship to um and i'll open it for questions rather for this leadership matters who you send dc matter the relationships in the white house matter and why you guys are or have got one hurdle to recognition done you still have a lot of hurdles we're gonna need a you're gonna need a very strong delegation in washington dc working with you and having the right relationship and make sure that we don't leave one ball dropped because the timing is right to get this not just across finish lines but to get it set up for the next generation. You know, if you just build a house and you don't put a foundation underneath it, the house is going to fall apart quickly. So now you've got the permit, you've got the financing, you've got the plans drawn up, but now you've got to lay the foundation of what the next 100 years is going to look like. You're going to need strong delegations in Washington, D.C. With that, let's stop. Let's open it up for a few questions. Yes, sir, go ahead. Can you introduce yourself? A lot of the federal funding that comes in place as we continue to move forward, A lot of the federal funding that comes in place as we continue to move forward I'd love that, by the way. So getting law enforcement stood up as you guys start taking responsibility for more of your backyard, bringing land into trust, working with the BIA on the federal side of it, with the federal funding, putting some of the infrastructure in place, long-term infrastructure, looking towards education, sustainable education, sustainable roads, and we've got a lot to do with medical and a long ways to go that we can get there to make sure that Columbia is standing up to provide sustainability for tribal members down the road. But I would say the base of it for us, with Department of Homeland Security I talked about, is law enforcement. The chairman talked about the drugs, and we all know the people in the community. I think he hit the nail on the head, and he said, we know who you are. We don't always have the ability to go after them. When the Mullins are stood up, but when the law enforcement arm is stood up, you had the ability to go after them, And you had the ability to take them off the court. Standing up and making sure you had the resources, the Lumbees had the resources to do the training for that, to let you train them from the procurement side for the type that they're going to need. And then working with DIA that's going to help us with the Justice Department and standing up the probable cause that's going to take place. All that is so they can get those guys Everybody else that's turning a blind eye to, get them off the street. Yes, go ahead. We did a team. I know that there you should have said that, too, because it does fall under Homeland Security. So learning how to go through the FEMA system, we talked about that on the roundtable just a little go to make sure that they – Absolutely. The President's made this very clear. We'll go anywhere we're invited and help with that part. We're going everywhere to enforce immigration policies. But if a city or a town or a county wants us cleaned up, we've seen it. We can see what's happening in Washington, D.C. We've seen what's happening in Memphis. In fact, every town we have went to, they invited us because we're able to go after all the crimes. It's not just the high crimes. We go after the small crimes. The president said that he's correct. Two percent of the population. So we go after the two percent. And when we're doing a federal, state, county, and local, the criminals don't have a chance. We work together. And we all row in the same boat and we all row together. And the drug activity is the most important thing that we can go after because it feeds so many other crimes. It's from the small petty crimes that violent crimes take place, running hand-in-hand with a lot of drugs. You see trafficking. Human trafficking is also child trafficking. Child predators, so sex trafficking comes along, which causes more issues. You see murder rates increase. You see carjacking increase. You see gang violence that come in. And when we're able to go after the heart of it, which a lot of times is the money itself that's funding it, which is the drug, through our partnership, you can see that continuously dropping. We would welcome it. We actually are begging county officials and mayors and governors to say, invite us in, let us go to work. We have an elite force through DHS with 80,000 badged officers that are willing to go in and fight crime every single day. I'm surrounded by patrons. I mean, you want to know a litany test on the people that love their job? Are you willing to do it for free? Well, when I walked into the Department of Homeland Security, they'd been doing their job for free for 40-plus days and hadn't walked off the job. It was another 30 days before they got paid, and they still didn't walk off the job. And that was the third or the fourth time they've been shut down in a year. That's patrons. That's people that are saying, And our mission is more important than anything else we do. And so, ma'am, if we get invited in any community, we will be there, and we'll clean up the streets side by side with locals, and do it in a very effective way. Is that it? Okay. Thank you guys so much. Chairman, thank you for inviting us. And Lumbees, thanks for your friendship. Appreciate it.