Oglala Sioux Tribe demands release of tribal members in ICE custody

“The Oglala Sioux Tribe has formally notified senior federal officials that the detention of Oglala Sioux tribal members under federal immigration authority is unlawful and constitutes a direct violation of binding treaties, federal law, constitutional protections, and the United States’ trust responsibility,” the tribe said in a press release. “The Tribe is demanding immediate federal action and government-to-government consultation.”

In the memo to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and other senior officials at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Star Comes Out wrote, “Members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe are United States citizens. We are the first Americans. We are not undocumented immigrants, and we are not subject to unlawful immigration enforcement action by ICE or Homeland Security.”

He outlined the tribe’s treaty history with the U.S. as well as other federal legislation, reminding the officials that the federal government has a treaty and trust obligation to protect tribes and their members. He also warned of legal consequences for ICE detentions.

“These violations further expose federal officials and cooperating agencies to liability for unlawful detention, deprivation of civil rights, and breach of trust obligations,” he wrote.

OST says the four members who were detained last week by ICE did not have any identification and were living under a bridge near the Little Earth housing complex in the East Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis.

“This is not a misunderstanding or an enforcement discretion issue,” Star Comes Out said in OST’s press release. “This is a treaty violation. Treaties are not optional. Sovereignty is not conditional. Our citizens are not negotiable.”

One of the four members detained by ICE has been released, according to the tribe. The others are reported to be in custody at Fort Snelling, which was used to imprison Dakota people before they were exiled from Minnesota after the Dakota War of 1862. The tribe first learned of the detained members on Jan. 8, according to the press release, but confirming their whereabouts took multiple days.

“The irony is not lost on us,” Star Comes Out said in the press release. “Lakota citizens who are reported to be held at Fort Snelling—a site forever tied to the Dakota 38+2—underscores why treaty obligations and federal accountability matter today, not just in history.”

According to the tribe, federal officials responded to OST’s initial inquiries about its detained tribal members by saying that the information would be provided if OST entered into an immigration agreement with ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “We will not enter an agreement that would authorize, or make it easier for, ICE or Homeland Security to come onto our tribal homeland to arrest or detain our tribal members,” Star Comes Out said in the memo to federal officials.

In a written statement to Buffalo’s Fire, Minnesota Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, sharply criticized ICE for detaining OST members.

“Native people have been here since time immemorial – there’s no one that has been in this country longer than us,” she wrote. “The detention of members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe by ICE is outrageous and unacceptable. This is clear racial profiling, plain and simple. ICE is doing nothing but making our communities less safe. They need to get out of Minnesota and leave us alone.”

Last year, the Oglala Sioux Tribe led an effort that officially banished then Governor Kristi Noem from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation for saying that tribal leaders in the state were in partnership with Mexican cartels. Every other tribe in the state of South Dakota followed and banished Noem from tribal lands.

The tribe announced that its enrollment office will be offering assistance with enrollment verification and documentation for members and descendants at the Minneapolis American Indian Center over the weekend and plans to host a press conference with other tribal leaders at the headquarters of the Prairie Island Dakota Community in Welch, Minnesota. Multiple Minnesota-based tribes currently are providing enrollment services, such as issuing tribal identification cards, at no cost to members.