#NativeAmerican tribes say #ICE harassing members amid raids
by Erin Alberty, Russell Contreras, January 29, 2025
"Some Native American tribes say tribal members are being harassed by federal immigration agents, while others fear they could be wrongly caught up in immigration raids.
"The alarm comes as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says its agents are arresting more than 1,000 undocumented immigrants a day, part of President Trump's push to deport 'millions' of people not authorized to stay in the U.S.
"#ImmigrationRaids in cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles — and Trump's new directives to allow searches in schools and churches in addition to workplaces and homes — have heightened concerns in communities across the country.
" 'My office has received multiple reports from Navajo citizens that they have had negative, and sometimes traumatizing, experiences with federal agents targeting undocumented immigrants,' Navajo President #BuuNygren said in a statement.
"#NavajoNation officials told CNN on Monday that at least 15 Indigenous people in the southwestern U.S. have reported being questioned or detained by immigration officers in the past week.
"The 17.5 million-acre Navajo Nation is in northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah. It's larger than 10 states.
"ICE offices in Utah and Washington, D.C., did not immediately respond to Axios' requests for comment.
"The #MescaleroApache Tribe in New Mexico announced that a member was confronted by ICE agents last week and was asked for ID — first in Spanish, although the member spoke English.
"The #SissetonWahpetonOyate of the #LakeTraverse Reservation in South Dakota said it was temporarily waiving all fees for issuing or replacing tribal IDs amid members' concerns about ICE encounters.
"#Ute Indian Tribe Business Committee — the tribe's governing body — promised in a statement Saturday to "aggressively defend our rights and interests." The tribe offered legal counsel to members who are "improperly detained or questioned," as did the #Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah.
"The #SanJuanSouthernPaiute Tribe, whose land crosses the Utah-Arizona border, advised its citizens to record encounters with ICE, ask for agents' badges and keep their doors closed and ask for a warrant if approached at home.
What they're saying: Trump's immigration executive orders have 'raised concern among our tribal members, particularly regarding the potential targeting of our community by immigration agents,' #ChippewaCree Tribe chairman Harat BaRete said in a statement. The north-central Montana tribe then released a set of guidelines urging members to remain silent, keep ID handy and report encounters to tribal officials.
" 'The #RosebudSioux Tribe is in the process of assessing the legal effects of the unlawful and unconstitutional Trump administration Executive Orders and will fiercely defend against any threat to the sovereignty,' the South Dakota tribe said in a statement.
"Since the Obama administration, U.S. agents have aggressively targeted human smuggling rings that use isolated #IndigenousLands to try to move undetected.
"Congress didn't grant citizenship to #NativeAmericans until 1924 — a development President Trump's lawyers cited in their attempt to justify his temporarily blocked executive order to #OverturnBirthrightCitizenship.
"The administration's attorneys last week invoked an 1884 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that denied citizenship to members of tribes to argue that 'birth in the United States does not by itself entitle a person to citizenship.'
"Some tribal leaders saw the argument as a threat against their members' U.S. citizenship."
Source:
https://www.axios.com/2025/01/29/native-american-immigration-raids-navajo-nation
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/S4abP
#RacialProfiling #ICESucks #ICERaids #LandBack #TrumpSucks #WhiteSupremacy #Colonialism #NativeAmericansWereHereFirst
DoomsdaysCW
