AP
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The president of Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota on Tuesday referred to as for the fast launch of tribal members who have been detained at a homeless encampment by Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers in Minnesota final week.
Three of the 4 Oglala Sioux Tribe members who have been arrested in Minneapolis on Friday have been transferred to an ICE facility at Fort Snelling, President Frank Star Comes Out mentioned in an announcement launched with a memorandum despatched 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 mentioned. “Enrolled tribal members are citizens of the United States by statute and citizens of the Oglala Sioux Nation by treaty.”
Details concerning the circumstances that led to their detention have been unclear.
In the memorandum despatched to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Star Comes Out mentioned that when the tribal nation reached out to the company, it was supplied with solely the primary names of the lads. Homeland Security refused to launch extra info until the tribe “entered into an immigration agreement with ICE.”
DHS didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Tuesday night.
Star Comes Out mentioned the tribe has no plans enter an settlement with ICE.
In a put up to his Facebook web page, Star Comes Out mentioned that the 4 detained tribal members are experiencing homelessness and dwelling below a bridge in Minneapolis. One of the members was launched from detention.
In the press launch, he demanded info on the standing of the three males in detention, the discharge of all tribal residents in ICE custody and a gathering between the tribe and the federal government.
Fort Snelling has a troubling historical past for Indigenous individuals. It was the primary army outpost in the realm, and Dakota individuals have been held prisoner there throughout the Dakota War of 1862, an armed battle between the U.S. and Native Americans, mentioned Nick Estes, an affiliate professor in American Indian Studies on 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 mentioned. “It’s kind of like a continuation on the monopoly of violence from the military outpost to the ICE facility.”
It’s not the primary time in latest months that ICE brokers have detained tribal members.
Last yr, elected leaders in the Navajo Nation mentioned that tribal residents 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 earlier than the error was caught and she or he was launched.
That similar month, Elaine Miles, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon and an actress identified for her roles in “Northern Exposure” and “The Last of Us,” mentioned she was stopped by ICE officers in Washington state who informed her that her tribal ID appeared pretend.
Indigenous rights teams, in addition to the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, have established locations in Minneapolis the place tribal residents can apply for tribal ID playing cards, in case they are approached by ICE and want to offer identification.
“I never thought that I’d have my tribal ID hanging around my neck, but I do,” mentioned Mary LaGarde, government director of the Minneapolis American Indian Center. “So, it’s just important that they have proper identification on them and not to panic.”