The legacy of U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland begins with her federal boarding school initiative to hold the country accountable for the atrocities committed against Native American children and families.

Haaland influenced former President Joe Biden’s historic apology on behalf of the U.S. government and its role in boarding school violence and trauma, and his designation of national monuments, such as the Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument. 

O’odham Action News covered Haaland and her efforts to heal and aid Indian Country, including Biden’s boarding school apology visit to the Gila Crossing Community School in the Gila River Indian Community on October 25, 2024. 

“I have sought to shed light on this legacy and leverage my platform to amplify the voices of those who deserve to be heard. Because Native American history is American history,” she stated in a press release following Biden’s apology. “This trauma is not new to Indigenous people, but it is new to many people across our nation.”

Haaland is Laguna Pueblo and was born in Winslow, Arizona in 1960. Located in New Mexico, Laguna Pueblo is 500,000 acres and includes six villages: Encinal, Laguna, Mesita, Paguate, Paraje and Seama. Haaland served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2019-2021. 

Haaland’s history-making tenure as the first Native American cabinet secretary began when the U.S. Senate confirmed her appointment 51-40 in March 2021. The Interior Department oversees the bureaus of Indian Affairs, Indian Education, Land Management and others, as well as the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, among many other offices that manage the nation’s natural and cultural resources.

Haaland’s boarding school initiative investigated and documented known locations and the abuse that occurred there. Stories were collected from survivors of boarding schools and their descendants. Haaland’s grandparents were sent to St. Catherine’s Indian Boarding School in Santa Fe, New Mexico during their youth.

While secretary, Haaland worked to receive her master’s degree in American Indian studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is nearing graduation. 

President Donald Trump nominated Doug Burgum, the former governor of North Dakota, as Haaland’s successor. Some tribal leaders in North Dakota, as well as other areas of the country with resource-rich lands to develop, have welcomed the idea of Burgum leading the Interior Department.

In her farewell address on January 15, Haaland thanked Indian Country. “I didn’t know the sheer breadth of what we’d accomplish. I just knew this work was urgent and necessary,” she stated, adding that the nation is on a path to healing. “Even with the uncertainty of today, the future remains bright, and it remains ours.”

Haaland will return to New Mexico with her husband and family. She is poised to make a return to New Mexico politics as Governor. 

“This work is not finished,” she stated in a press release dated January 6. “The pain and hardship of the past will not be corrected in our lifetimes. But [President Biden’s] actions and the work of the incredible team at the Department begins a new chapter and breathes new life into our shared building of a better future. Our past can never be re-written, but together, we can heal.”