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- By Native News Online Staff
U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Vice Chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, led a group of 13 Democratic colleagues in urging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to honor the United States’ trust and treaty obligations to Tribal nations and their citizens by ending the unjustified searches and interrogations of Tribal members.
In their letter, the lawmakers expressed concern over reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been stopping and harassing U.S.-born citizens under suspicion of being undocumented migrants. These incidents, which have escalated since President Trump’s Executive Order aimed at ending birthright citizenship, have instilled fear and anxiety among Tribal citizens living both on and off reservation lands.
“Whether it is simple ignorance or worse — outright disrespect for and harassment of Tribal citizens — ICE’s law enforcement tactics reflect an abdication of U.S. trust and treaty responsibility with Tribal nations and their citizens, and cannot stand,” the senators wrote in a letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
The senators requested that DHS consult with Tribes and issue guidance on what forms of identification are acceptable as valid proof of United States citizenship, including Tribal government-issued identification. They also urged DHS to issue internal guidance for ICE agents on how to lawfully engage with federally recognized Tribes and their citizens, including on Tribal lands.
“Accordingly, we ask that the Department issue guidance and training to ICE agents on forms of Tribal identification that are acceptable as proof of United States citizenship (alone or in tandem with other documents). We also ask that your Department communicate and consult with Tribal governments to ensure they are given timely and accurate information to inform and protect their Tribal citizens from unnecessary searches, interrogation, and detention related to immigration enforcement efforts,” the senators continued.
The senators also pressed Secretary Noem to answer the following questions:
- Does ICE policy accept of Certificates of Indian Blood (CIBs), Tribal enrollment, or other Tribal identification documents as valid proof of United States citizenship?
- If yes, please provide a full description of these policies and how they are communicated within your Department, and with Tribal governments.
- If no, please clarify what information needs to be present on Tribally-issued identification documents for those to be accepted as valid proof of United States citizenship.
- What training are ICE agents given about different forms of valid identification and documentation of United States citizenship for enrolled members of federally recognized Tribes, including CIBs, Tribal enrollment, or other Tribal identification?
- What training are ICE agents, and other law enforcement personnel in your Department, given about interactions with citizens of federally recognized Tribes?
- What specific corrective actions are you taking to ensure that the rights of United States-born Tribal citizens, as American citizens, are being upheld and respected by your Department?
- How does ICE justify the use of taxpayer dollars and its limited resources to conduct enforcement actions involving United States-born citizens of federally recognized Tribes?
- What has been the estimated cost of ICE enforcement actions within reservation boundaries thus far? Will ICE enforcement actions occur within community locations such as schools, hospitals, clinics, and religious institutions that are on Tribal lands, including trust land, restricted fee, and fee simple lands, or located off of Tribal lands?
- What implications do ICE enforcement actions have for Tribal nations whose historic lands transcend the U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada borders, including Tribes with members living in Mexico or Canada and/or having transborder migratory privileges using special identification documents, such as the Tohono O’odham Nation and the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas? What will ICE do to ensure that tribal members residing in Mexico or Canada are not inappropriately detained as a result of these enforcement actions? And how is ICE educating its agents about the access guaranteed in the Jay Treaty to the United States for Canadian First Nations members for cultural, trade, and other purposes?
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