The president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota on Tuesday called for the immediate release of tribal members who were held in 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 issued with a memorandum sent to federal immigration authorities.
“The Oglala Sioux Tribe’s memorandum makes it clear that ‘tribal citizens are not aliens’ and are ‘categorically outside the jurisdiction of immigration,'” 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 not clear.
In the memorandum sent to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Star Comes Out said that when the tribal nation reached out to the agency it was only provided with the first names of the men. Homeland Security declined to release more information, until the tribe “entered into an immigration settlement with ICE.”
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday evening.
Star Comes Out said the tribe has no plans to enter into an agreement with ICE.
In a post on its Facebook page, Star Comes Out said the four detained tribal members are experiencing homelessness and are living under a bridge in Minneapolis. One of the members was released from detention.
In the press release, he requested 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 Native people. It was the first military post in the area, and Dakota people were held captive there during the Dakota War of 1862, an armed conflict between the United States and Native Americans, said Nick Estes, an associate professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota and a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe.
“She has this really notorious anti-Native history, specifically against the Dakota,” Estes said. “It’s a kind of continuation on the monopoly of violence from the military outpost to the ICE facility.”
It is not the first time in recent months that ICE agents have detained tribal members.
Last year, elected leaders in the Navajo Nation said 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 was arrested in Iowa was mistakenly scheduled to be deported before the mistake 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 officials in Washington state who told her her tribal ID appeared fake.
Indigenous rights groups as well as the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians have established locations in Minneapolis where tribal citizens can apply for tribal identity cards, in case they are approached by ICE and need to provide identification.
“I never thought I would have my tribal ID hanging around my neck, but I do,” said Mary LaGarde, executive director of the Minneapolis American Indian Center. “Therefore, it is only important that they have proper identification on them and that they do not panic.”