The president of Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota on Tuesday called for the immediate release of tribal members who were detained at a homeless encampment by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota last week.
Three of the four Oglala Sioux Tribe members who were arrested in Minneapolis on Friday have been transferred to an ICE facility at Fort Snelling, President Frank Star Comes Out said in a statement released with a memorandum sent to federal immigration authorities.
“The Oglala Sioux Tribe’s memorandum makes clear that ‘tribal citizens are not aliens’ and are ‘categorically outside immigration jurisdiction,’” Star Comes Out said. “Enrolled tribal members are citizens of the United States by statute and citizens of the Oglala Sioux Nation by treaty.”
Details about the circumstances that led to their detention were unclear.
In the memorandum sent to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Star Comes Out said the when tribal nation reached out to the agency it was provided with only the first names of the men. Homeland Security refused to release more information, unless the tribe “entered into an immigration agreement with ICE.”
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday evening.
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Star Comes Out said the tribe has no plans enter an agreement with ICE.
In a post to his Facebook page, Star Comes Out said that the four detained tribal members are experiencing homelessness and living under a bridge in Minneapolis. One of the members was released from detention.
In the press release, he demanded information on the status of the three men in detention, the release of all tribal citizens in ICE custody and a meeting between the tribe and the government.
Fort Snelling has a troubling history for Indigenous people. It was the first military outpost in the area, and Dakota people were held prisoner there during the Dakota War of 1862, an armed conflict between the U.S. and Native Americans, said Nick Estes, an associate professor in American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota and a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe.
“It has this really notorious anti-Indigenous, specifically anti-Dakota, history,” Estes said. “It’s kind of like a continuation on the monopoly of violence from the military outpost to the ICE facility.”
It’s not the first time in recent months that ICE agents have detained tribal members.
Last year, elected leaders in the Navajo Nation said that tribal citizens in Arizona and New Mexico reported being stopped and detained by ICE officers. In November, a member of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community in Arizona who had been arrested in Iowa was mistakenly scheduled to be deported before the error was caught and she was released.
That same month, Elaine Miles, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon and an actress known for her roles in “Northern Exposure” and “The Last of Us,” said she was stopped by ICE officers in Washington state who told her that her tribal ID looked fake.
Indigenous rights groups as well as the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians have established places in Minneapolis where tribal citizens can apply for tribal ID cards, in case they are approached by ICE and need to provide identification.
“I never thought that I’d have my tribal ID hanging around my neck, but I do,” said Mary LaGarde, executive director of the Minneapolis American Indian Center. “So, it’s just important that they have proper identification on them and not to panic.”
