Guest Opinion. Systemic racism is at the center of the White House’s mass deportation policies. Right now, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents are racially profiling and detaining people who are here with valid visas, and even U.S. citizens -- including a Puerto Rican family with a 3-year-old who were speaking Spanish in public.
These ICE roundups are inhumane and against the law. No matter your immigration status, you have the constitutional right to due process, which means law enforcement cannot arrest you or remove you from your home without reasonable suspicion of a crime. Being here as an undocumented person is a civil violation, not a crime. But ICE is arresting undocumented people who have no criminal records, simply because of the way they look or the language they’re speaking.
This racial profiling also impacts Native people in the U.S., who are the original inhabitants of this country and have been here since time immemorial. Federal agents have reportedly harassed or detained some Native people simply for being brown, including members of the Navajo Nation in the Southwest. Some ICE agents apparently rejected Tribal Identification cards as proof of U.S. citizenship. Most citizens have been released after having the opportunity to provide documentation, but these incidents are civil rights violations. Now, immigrants and Natives are limiting their activities due to fear.
In addition to these ICE raids and attacks on refugees, the Trump administration has challenged birthright citizenship -- including questioning Native people's citizenship -- which is also outrageous and unconstitutional. The administration is using our dual citizenship against us: Native peoples are citizens of our sovereign Tribal Nations as well as citizens of this country. We’ve lived here since before the United States even existed! Over 100 years ago, U.S. citizenship was unilaterally imposed by Congress -- and our communities are still denied equal access to voting.
The Trump administration is issuing executive orders that embolden other federal agencies, including Customs and Border Patrol and the FBI, to violate our rights while they fire Inspectors General who have the responsibility for independent oversight of federal agencies. This will escalate abuses of power and embolden federal law enforcement’s reckless disregard for laws across the United States, endangering all of our communities. Right now we must demand our government representatives do everything in their power to stop the attacks.
In addition to these ICE raids and attacks on refugees, the Trump administration has challenged birthright citizenship -- including questioning Native people's citizenship -- which is also outrageous and unconstitutional. The administration is using our dual citizenship against us: Native peoples are citizens of our sovereign Tribal Nations as well as citizens of this country. We’ve lived here since before the United States even existed! Over 100 years ago, U.S. citizenship was unilaterally imposed by Congress -- and our communities are still denied equal access to voting.
The Trump administration is issuing executive orders that embolden other federal agencies, including Customs and Border Patrol and the FBI, to violate our rights while they fire Inspectors General who have the responsibility for independent oversight of federal agencies. This will escalate abuses of power and embolden federal law enforcement’s reckless disregard for laws across the United States, endangering all of our communities. Right now we must demand our government representatives do everything in their power to stop the attacks.
Judith LeBlanc (Caddo) is the executive director of Native Organizers Alliance and NOA Action Fund.
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