Deb Haaland confirmed as first Indigenous US interior secretary

Haaland, one of the first Native American women elected to US Congress, is a ‘powerhouse, inspiring’ leader, advocacy group says.

The US Senate has confirmed Representative Deb Haaland as secretary of the interior, making the New Mexico politician the first Indigenous person to head a cabinet agency in the history of the United States. Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, will handle oversight of more than 202,342,821 hectares (500 million acres) of US land and the federal government’s relations with 574 recognised Indigenous nations. Native American and environmentalist groups campaigned for Haaland’s confirmation. “Native people, advocates, and allies from around the country have been working tirelessly to support and uplift [Haaland] and we couldn’t be more proud of her,” Crystal Echo Hawk, founder and executive director of IllumiNative, an Indigenous-led group that aims to increase visibility for Native nations, told Al Jazeera.