- Tribal citizens in Michigan have called their tribal governments with concerns they could be targeted
- Several Michigan tribes have urged citizens to carry paperwork with them and advised them of their rights if stopped by ICE
- A tribal news organization reports at least five Native Americans have been detained by ICE in Minneapolis
Native American tribes in Michigan are warning members to carry tribal and state identification on them at all times in case they’re stopped by federal immigration officials.
The warnings came in response to reports that multiple Native Americans had been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during ongoing raids in Minneapolis.
“Irony maybe is the word,” said Ryan Mills, general counsel of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, “because not only are Native Americans citizens of the state they live in and the tribe they are part of, ultimately … they were here before the government of the United States was created.”
Mills said he knew of no instances of ICE detaining Native Americans in Michigan, but tribal members had reached out to the tribal government with concerns that ICE was targeting non-white people across the nation.
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ICE did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this story, but a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told ProPublica in October that agents do not racially profile or target Americans and that “we don’t arrest US citizens for immigration enforcement.”
A US Supreme Court ruling in September cleared the way for ICE to use race and language as grounds for immigration stops.
ProPublica identified at least 170 US citizens detained — sometimes for days — by ICE agents during the first nine months of President Donald Trump’s second term.
“It just creates anxiety,” Mills said.
Many of the detained US citizens were accused of obstructing ICE activities.
Tribes such as the Sault Tribe, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and the Bay Mills Indian Community have in recent days publicly urged their citizens to carry ID and to know their rights if they are stopped by an ICE agent, including the right to remain silent and the right to request an attorney.
“Bay Mills Indian Community has tribal citizens across the United States who have experienced increased interaction and increased insecurity regarding their safety — even in the Eastern Upper Peninsula,” Bay Mills Indian Community President Whitney Gravelle said in a written statement to Bridge Michigan.
“This information was shared to inform our tribal citizens and all guests on our lands of their constitutional rights. Tribal sovereignty includes respect for all individuals, living or working, on tribal lands.”
This article first appeared on Bridge Michigan and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.