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President oglala sioux The tribe disputes claims he made in a memo and press release earlier this week that immigration enforcement arrested four tribal members and that the federal government sought to obtain “immigration agreements” from the tribe in exchange for information about the whereabouts of its members.
The Department of Homeland Security said it could not verify claims that any of its officers arrested or “even encountered” members of the Oglala Sioux tribe or found anyone claiming to be a tribal member at a detention center. They deny asking the tribes to reach any kind of agreement.
Tribal Chairman Frank Starr has not responded to multiple requests for comment, including after the updated memo was released Thursday.
The arrest charges come as many Native Americans are already concerned about the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda and racial profiling by federal agents, and as some tribes grapple with whether to reach agreements with Native Americans. Department of Homeland Security related to repression.
“Celebrities Coming Out” posted on Facebook on Tuesday that the men were minneapolisWhere Immigration and Customs Enforcement The agency launched its largest-ever operation and has been increasingly involved in clashes with protesters and residents angry at the agency’s tactics.
Star Comes Out also said that when contacted by the tribe about the arrest, “federal officials told us that the tribe would have access to this information if we entered into an immigration agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.”
But in a memo Thursday, Celebrities Out said his previous statements had been “misinterpreted” and that no such request was made by federal officials. He said the tribe has been in “cooperative communications” with federal officials on the issue, and federal officials said “one option to make it easier for the tribe to obtain information is to enter into an immigration agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security.” He did not specify the type of agreement.
He also said the tribe is “working with tribal, state and federal officials to verify reports” that tribal members living in Minneapolis have been arrested by ICE. Earlier this week, he said he was “informed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had detained four members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in Minneapolis” and that the tribe had their names. He called the arrests a “violation of the treaty.”
ICE arrests series of tribal citizens
The Department of Homeland Security countered that they were “not aware of anyone in our detention center claiming to be a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe” and could not confirm whether their officers had arrested anyone from the tribe. They also deny requiring tribes to agree to any type of agreement in exchange for providing information.
“ICE is not asking tribes to enter into any kind of agreement, we are simply asking for basic information about the individual, such as name and date of birth, so that we can conduct appropriate inspections and provide them with the facts,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security.
Last year, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said several tribal citizens were reportedly stopped and detained by ICE officers in Arizona and New Mexico. He and other tribal leaders advise their members to always carry their tribal ID cards.
In November, actress Elaine Miles, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon and known for her roles in Northland and The Last of Us, said she was stopped by ICE officers in Washington state and told her her tribal ID looked fake.
A member of Arizona’s Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community was arrested in Iowa last November and mistakenly scheduled to be handed over to ICE, but she was released before the mistake was discovered and she was released, local media reported.
There has been a recent conflict between the two parties Kristi Noem and native american reservations
There has been a history of tension between the Oglala Sioux and DHS dating back to when Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was governor of South Dakota. In 2024, “Celebrity Out” banned Noem from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota after she claimed without evidence that cartels were infiltrating the reservation.
During his tenure as governor, Noem was banned from most of the state’s nine reservations.
Noem told federal lawmakers that a gang calling itself the “Ghost Dancers” has ties to drug cartels and committed murders on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
The Star said at the time that he was deeply offended by her reference, calling the Ghost Dance one of the Oglala Sioux people’s “most sacred rituals” and that Noem’s use of the “Ghost Dance” was “blatantly disrespectful and insulting to our Oyate,” using the Lakota word for “people” or “country.”
At the time, Noem said the decision to star in “Coming Out” was “unfortunate” and that her focus was on collaboration.
Controversial cooperation with immigration agencies
The dispute between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and ICE comes as some Native American tribes that contract with the Department of Homeland Security are reconsidering those agreements.
A tribal business entity associated with the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation has terminated a nearly $30 million federal contract signed in October to provide early designs for immigration detention centers across the United States after the agreement was derided online as “disgusting” and “cruel” by tribal members. Many question how a tribe whose ancestors were uprooted from the Great Lakes region two centuries ago and gathered on a reservation south of Topeka could participate in the Trump administration’s mass deportations.
In Alaska, Native shareholders published an op-ed in the Anchorage Daily News advocating that the Bering Strait Native Corporation (owned by Alaska’s thousands of Native American shareholders) divest from all immigration detention centers across the country.
A spokesman for the company did not respond to an emailed request for comment.