Several Native Americans have reportedly been swept up in Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota, where federal agents are accused of racially profiling immigrants and citizens alike in rapid, warrantless arrests.
Four members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe were arrested and detained last week, according to Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out. Three remain in federal detention, according to the Tribe.
At least one other Native American, a member of the Red Lake Nation, was arrested and briefly detained last week. Jose Roberto “Beto” Ramirez, 20, was forcibly removed from his aunt’s car and detained by masked officers in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, according to video of his arrest.
Officers pulled him from the passenger’s seat, slammed him on the hood of the car, handcuffed him and hauled him to a detention center, where he spent roughly 10 hours.
Native Americans are U.S. citizens, holding dual citizenship rights and responsibilities under both federal and tribal laws. But indigenous leaders fear federal officers surging into the greater Minneapolis area are unlawfully stopping, questioning and detaining Native Minnesotans on the basis of their skin color and names, or racially profiling Tribal members who officers believe are Latino immigrants.
“Native people have been here since time immemorial — there’s no one that has been a citizen of this country longer than us,” according to Minnesota’s Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a member of White Earth Nation and the highest-ranking Indigenous woman in statewide elected office,
“The obvious racial profiling happening to our community is disgraceful,” she said this week. “My heart breaks to hear about what’s happening and it pisses me off.”
In a letter to Trump administration officials, the Oglala Sioux Tribe noted that the detention of tribal members is “unlawful and constitutes a direct violation of binding treaties, federal law, constitutional protections, and the United States' trust responsibility.”
Three tribal members are detained at a federal building in outskirts of Minneapolis, where scores of people arrested during the Minnesota surge are jailed, according to Star Comes Out.
Tribal officials have not identified the men. The Independent has not been able to independently verify their names or confirm their arrests.
In a statement to The Independent, Homeland Security claims the agency cannot verify whether officers had even “encountered” them.
Homeland Security officials have asked for “basic information on the individuals, such as names and date of birth so that we can run a proper check to provide them with the facts,” according to a spokesperson for the agency.
“The Oglala Sioux Tribe’s memorandum makes clear that ‘tribal citizens are not aliens’ and are ‘categorically outside immigration jurisdiction,’” President Star Comes Out said in a statement. “Enrolled tribal members are citizens of the United States by statute and citizens of the Oglala Sioux Nation by treaty.”
He noted the irony of the federal building housing a detention center at the site of Fort Snelling, where, during the Dakota War of 1862 between Native American and white settlers, Indigenous people were imprisoned. Two Dakota leaders were executed at the military fort in 1865.
The alleged detention of Native Americans at the facility “underscores why treaty obligations and federal accountability matter today, not just in history,” Star Comes Out said.
Tribal members “are first Americans,” he wrote in his letter to administration officials.
“We are not undocumented immigrants, and we are not subject to unlawful, immigration enforcement actions by ICE or Homeland Security,” it says. “Tribal members are not aliens. They are not subject to immigration enforcement and detention. They are citizens of this land by treaty, by statute, and by history. … Our citizenship is not negotiable.”
“Snatching a Native person off the street is not a reckless mistake — it’s a direct assault on Indigenous sovereignty and due process,” according to a statement from state lawmakers in the Minnesota Native American Caucus.
“Native peoples are Indigenous to this country, existing on this continent for thousands of years before the colonization of this nation — rendering deportation impossible and absurd,” they said.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed that, despite video footage and witness testimony describing indiscriminate arrests, “every situation we are doing targeted enforcement.”
In response to questions as to why some Americans have been asked to provide proof of citizenship in Minnesota, Noem told reporters Thursday that officers may need to “validate” the identity of a “criminal” in their custody.
“If we are on a target, there may be individuals surrounding that criminal that we may be asking who they are and why they're there and having them validate their identity,” she said.
Asked Thursday what the Trump administration is doing to ensure citizens aren’t wrongly arrested in the president’s mass deportation campaign, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt deflected.
“ICE is focused on detaining individuals who are unlawfully present in the country,” Leavitt said. “That is their intention and that is their goal.”
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