Debra Anne Haaland (/ ˈ h ɑː l ə n d /; [1] born December 2, 1960) is an American politician who served as the 54th United States secretary of the interior from 2021 to 2025. [2] A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the U.S. representative for New Mexico's 1st congressional district from 2019 to 2021 and as chair of the New Mexico Democratic Party …

Mar 16, 2021 · Deb Haaland, who got confirmed as the first-ever Native American interior secretary on Monday, March 15, after being handpicked by President Joe Biden to run the department, is also a single mom to daughter, Somáh Haaland.

Jan 28, 2025 · Haaland was born in Winslow, Arizona, to John David Haaland and Mary Toya, the third of their four children. Haaland’s parents met while stationed at Naval Station Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay, California.

Apr 29, 2024 · Haaland’s grandmother Helen was eight years old when a priest from Mission San José de Laguna, in New Mexico, gathered children in the village of Mesita, some fifty miles west of Albuquerque,...

Deb Haaland gave birth to daughter Somah four days after graduating from the University of New Mexico in 1994 and started a salsa business in about 1995 to support the family as a single mother.

Jan 14, 2025 · The agency helped oversee forced assimilation of Native children through federal boarding schools, where children taken from their parents were barred from speaking their Indigenous...

Deb Haaland is a U.S. public official. She was the first Native American to serve in a presidential cabinet. The cabinet is a group of people who act as advisers to the president. Haaland was appointed secretary of the interior by President Joe Biden in 2021.

Haaland has a child, Somáh, whom she raised as a single mother. [17] On August 28, 2021, Haaland married her longtime partner, Skip Sayre, in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico. [18] [19]

Mar 20, 2024 · Haaland's mother, Mary Toya, was a Navy veteran who worked in Indian education at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Toya made sure her children maintained a connection to their maternal...

Jan 28, 2025 · She attended 13 public schools across the United States before the family settled in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to be close to family who also belong to the Laguna Pueblo. Haaland graduated from Highland High School in Albuquerque. She has two sisters, a brother, and two half-sisters.