ICE and Indian Country
- Jordan March
- 12 hours ago
- 3 min read
A surge in immigration enforcement has some Oklahoma tribes asking whether they'll be affected
With a spike in arrests under expanded Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, Oklahoma tribal leaders have advised their citizens on what they are expected to do should ICE detain or question them.
In social media posts in recent months, tribal governments warned that Native Americans were at risk of being improperly stopped and questioned due to potential racial profiling, as well misconceptions about their status as both U.S. and tribal citizens.
Tribal citizens' concerns stem in part from reports that Lakota men were swept up in the immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis earlier this year, and incidents involving Navajo citizens elsewhere.
The spike in immigration enforcement in Oklahoma follows Operation Guardian, which began under Gov. Kevin Stitt, with the goal of joint efforts by state and federal officials in immigration enforcement. According to The Oklahoman, more than 35 law enforcement agencies across the state have cooperation agreements with ICE, including some of the state's largest, such as the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office and the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety. No Oklahoma tribes have cooperation agreements with ICE, according to agency records.
The number of tribal citizens who have been arrested or detained for alleged immigration violations is hard to come by. Although arrests don't appear to be widespread at least in terms of what has been revealed in news coverage and official data, improperly singling out tribal citizens for ICE attention could further erode Native Americans' tricky relationship with the U.S. government and potentially deprive them of their rights.
ENN reached out to Oklahoma's Five Tribes (Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole nations). None responded to requests for comment. However, each tribe posted similarly worded language on their official social media sites earlier this year warning and advising their citizens of ICE interactions.
The Seminole and Chickasaw tribes were first to post advisories. On January 15, the Seminole Nation shared a FAQ on its Facebook page that explained tribal citizens' rights and responsibilities should they encounter ICE. The advice largely paralleled what any U.S. citizen could expect, but the tribe's need to reaffirm it shows at the very least that tribal citizens were asking questions. Likewise, the Chickasaw Nation advised its citizens to carry tribal and state-issued ID at all times.
Two days later, the Muscogee Nation posted a similar warning and urged its citizens to keep their tribal identification on hand. It pledged to work with citizens to verify their citizenship should they encounter ICE.
The Absentee Shawnee Tribe went substantially further, releasing a letter that accused ICE of employing "unconstitutional racial profiling techniques" and called ICE operations that target Native Americans because of their appearance "an ongoing predicament for Indian Country."
"To be blunt, just because a Native American may resemble, superficially, a migrant from Central or South America, that does not mean that federal officers have the right to approach," Absentee Shawnee Gov. John Raymond Johnson wrote.
ICE maintains it doesn't target Native Americans and no operations have occurred on tribal lands.
"Let me be unequivocal, ICE's mission is singular and clear: to apprehend and remove individuals who are unlawfully present in the United States. ICE does not target, and will not target, Native Americans or any U.S. citizens based on appearance, ethnicity, or community affiliation," then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said in a Feb. 12 letter to tribal governments and citizens.
Part of the friction may involve the rate at which Native Americans possess state-issued IDs as opposed to tribal IDs.
A study from the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement at the University of Maryland found that those who identify as Native American are twice as likely as white Americans to not have a state-issued ID like a driver's license. Four and a half percent of Native Americans lacked such IDs compared to 2.3% of white Americans.
Official tribal IDs are supposed to be recognized as legitimate forms of identification. However, it's unclear how much training ICE personnel receive on tribal IDs.
