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- By Levi Rickert
Opinion. Late last Monday afternoon, my daughter sent me a text with a link to a Topeka, Kansas television station story with the headline, “Prairie Band lands $30M contract for ICE ‘mega centers." As a tribal citizen of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, I felt as if I had been kicked in the stomach.
My mind immediately went to one question: How can this even be true?
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ICE — the acronym for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — is on my short list of things I consider un-American. It’s near the very top.
My opposition to ICE is rooted less in abstract debates about immigration policy and more in how the agency has operated on the ground. Arguably, both political parties have failed to develop effective immigration policies for this nation of immigrants.
And ICE is not the answer. ICE’s tactics, priorities and lack of accountability have created fear in communities and resemble practices historically associated with secret police forces — hence the frequent comparison to “Gestapo-type” methods.
Native people know oppression. We were forcibly removed from our homelands, locked in Indian boarding schools, confined to reservations. Our history is one of systematic attempts by the federal government to erase our culture, our language, our existence. We cannot — we should not — profit from the oppression of others.
The issue of accountability stems from ICE officers at times conducting arrests without clearlyidentifying themselves and using unmarked vehicles. Videos of individuals being quickly detained by masked or minimally identified agents have circulated widely, amplifying fears of secret police behavior.
This is un-American.
Anti-ICE sentiment reflects a deeper question in American politics: Should immigration enforcement prioritize deterrence through fear, or compliance through transparency, proportionality and community trust?As a Native American, I have a problem with anyone being targeted simply because their skin is darker. ICE targets people of color. That is why there have been multiple reports of Native Americans being questioned and detained by ICE. The sister of a young Native woman who was detained asked, “Where are you going to deport a Native American?”
The inhumane treatment of detainees at “Alligator Alcatraz” appalls me. The facility is located on the traditional lands of the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida.
These factors contributed to my deep dismay over my tribe’s business enterprise entering into a contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which houses ICE.
Tribal governance can be complicated, especially when a tribal council — the governing body of the tribe — is also tasked with growing the tribal economy.
The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation has adopted what is known across Indian Country as the “Harvard model,” which calls for the separation of tribal government from tribal business enterprises. It is not a single statute or template, but a governance framework many tribes have adopted to protect both sovereignty and economic performance.
The premise is simple: Tribal governments should govern; tribal enterprises should operate like businesses. The model argues that economic success depends on a credible separation between political decision-making and day-to-day business management.
That separation apparently kept my tribal council in the dark about a contract that committed KPB Services — a subsidiary of Prairie Band, LLC, the nation’s economic arm — to conduct early-phase planning, research, technical assessments and concept designs for secure structures that meet U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operating requirements.
Even though the contract does not include building or maintaining an ICE detention facility on tribal land, it would still make the tribe complicit in ICE’s intentions and tactics.
After I got home on Monday, Prairie Band Potawatomi Chairman Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick called me. “We don’t want anything to do with ICE!”
He told me the tribal council was just learning about the contract and that its members were not pleased.
Within 24 hours, the tribal council and the board of Prairie Band, LLC terminated the two senior executives who were directly responsible for signing the contract.
Prairie Band citizens are outraged.
The main question is why the tribe and its business enterprise does not simply walk away.
As with any contract, an entity cannot just walk away — especially from an ICE or Homeland Security contract — without serious consequences. Federal procurement rules are strict.
Federal contracts, including ICE contracts, are legally binding and enforceable under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Part 49. Walking away unilaterally is treated as a breach of contract or a termination for default, even if the contractor later claims ethical or political reasons.
Simply walking away without consequences is not necessarily an option. In fact, it could jeopardize Prairie Band, LLC’s ability to secure future federal contracts.
On Friday afternoon, Chairman Rupnick released a YouTube video addressing the ICE contract and possible steps moving forward.
“Right now, we are working on canceling this contract and fully disassociating the nation from it. We met with legal counsel immediately, and the process is still underway. Federal contracts are complex, and I still don’t know all the future ramifications, but we are pushing forward as swiftly and responsibly as possible,” Rupnick said.
As we wait to learn the next steps in how my tribe will handle this complicated situation, a broader question emerges: How do tribal business enterprises ensure their values align with those of the tribal nation?
Every tribal enterprise board should be fully aware of the values of the tribe it represents. Certain industries must be completely off-limits, such as pornography and even some environmental businesses that pose multigenerational risks to the health and well-being of tribal citizens.
Tribal economies have been built on capital for thousands of years, but they also rest on community and collective values. Native people maintain principles that conflict with colonial thinking, especially the notion that everything in business is about making money.
Tribal economies depend on capital, but the values upheld by Native people cannot be put at risk for profit.
I have always been proud to be a tribal citizen of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. The events of this past week shook that pride.
Chairman Rupnick’s Friday statement also included: “I am sick to my stomach and frankly heartbroken that members of our nation put economic development — though it is sorely needed — above our moral obligations to other persecuted people.”
Chairman Rupnick felt the same gut punch I did on Monday afternoon. His words acknowledge what we've always known: We cannot profit from the oppression of others.
Thayék gde nwéndëmen — We are all related.
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Levi Rickert (Potawatomi), Editor & Publisher
