Legal experts expressed hope – and concern – about the impact the Trump administration will have on the Native Americans during an election-focused panel.

A Nov. 12 panel at the UCLA School of Law featured legal experts and members of the Native American community who discussed voter behaviors, policies made under the Biden administration and the future of the community under Trump. UCLA Law had hosted a similar event in the wake of the 2020 election, said Rue Cepeda, program administrator for the Native Nations Law and Policy Center and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Tribal Legal Development Clinic.

While an early Edison Research exit poll cited by NBC News indicated that 65% of Native Americans supported President Trump in the 2024 election, Mark Macarro, President of the National Congress on American Indians, said during the panel that he believed the poll was inaccurate. He added that the sample size of the poll was too small – and urged that further studies be done to accurately determine the voter turnout of Native Americans.

“I wouldn’t do any planning, fiscal or otherwise, based on that NBC exit poll,” he said. “What we should do is do something that’s representative of Native Americans, and put good data out and have it be accurate.”

The 2024 American Electorate Voter Poll found that 57% of the Native American population voted for Kamala Harris, while 39% voted for Trump.

Robert Odawi Porter, former President of the Seneca Nation of Indians and visiting professor at Cornell Law School, said during the panel that the Biden-Harris administration implemented positive policies for the Native American community and respected treaty rights, adding that he hopes the Trump administration will continue to protect them.

“It’s good to conserve good policy,” he said. “It’s good to conserve respect for treaty rights, and it’s good to conserve respect for native peoples self determining at a local level of government.”

Del Laverdure, an attorney and former assistant secretary for Indian Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior, also said the Biden administration made previously unparalleled advancements for the Native American community.

“The Biden administration has been amazing and historic,” he said. “We haven’t seen those kind of dollars come through Indian country in the history of the country.”

During his time in office, Biden funded tribal-led climate projects through the $722 million allocated to tribal and Indigenous communities in the Inflation Reduction Act and promoted Native American leadership, such as by making Deb Haaland the first Native American cabinet secretary.

In October 2024, Biden also issued a formal apology to the Native American community for the abuse and trauma brought about by the federal government’s Indigenous boarding school system, which was in use during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Jennifer Weddle, co-chair of Greenberg Traurig’s American Indian Law Practice, said during the panel that there was a coalition of Native American tribes present in D.C. in the week following the 2024 presidential election.

However, Porter said he was concerned about the representation of Native Americans in the first Trump administration. He said during Trump’s first term there was no White House Tribal Nations Summit, which is an annual gathering of members of the Executive Branch and leaders from all federally recognized tribes.

Porter said the first administration did not focus on the Native American community, adding that it took over three years for someone to reestablish the White House Council of Native American Affairs.

Weddle, on the other hand, said despite the lack of a White House Tribal Nations Summit under the first Trump administration, there were still important meetings for Native Americans.

“In the first Trump administration, we didn’t see a Big White House Tribal Nations summit where every tribe got to send one leader,” she said. “We saw a series of smaller summits that actually were very substantive, where you had a lot of time for interaction, questions, conversations in the hallway with cabinet secretaries.”

Other panelists also expressed hopes for cooperation with the upcoming Trump administration. Porter said he hopes the Republican party will be willing to collaborate with the Native American community now that they have control of Congress and the Executive branch.

“Trump and his team and Congress have a mandate,” he said. “They’re going to have all branches of government, and we want to be part of that.”

Weddle said there are congresspeople who have ties with the Native American community – such as Senator John Thune and Senator Mike Rounds – and can help connect the community with the second Trump administration. She added that this – coupled with smaller tribal summits – could help encourage more direct engagement with the administration.

Cepeda said the event was planned ahead of the election with the intent of highlighting Native American allies in both major parties.

“We’re really trying to get people geared to the idea that there are allies to Native American tribes on both sides of the aisle,” she said.

Lauren van Schilfgaarde, an assistant professor of law at UCLA Law who helped organize the event, said the event hoped to dig deeper into issues facing Native Americans.

Cepeda said that UCLA Law is a leading institution in Native American studies, as very few law schools across the country focus on Indigenous rights. She added that she hoped this event helped further the presence of Indian law as a whole and at UCLA.

“We’re trying to advance the presence of Indian law at UCLA Law, and also forwarding and advancing UCLA Law as an institution of Indian law in the country,” Cepeda said.

Laverdure said the Native American community holds a significant role in American society and that he hopes people listen to their concerns.

“I hope people just listen and understand how hard it is to be an Indian in Indian country,” he said. “We’re on the margins of society, but we, for those of us in and around it, we matter a lot, and even though it’s small in a larger American context, it’s really important to what happens with America in general.”