Many tribal leaders are speaking out, accurately pointing out that the
1924 Indian Citizenship Act granted U.S. citizenship to Native peoples, alongside their own tribal citizenship, so ICE has absolutely
zero legal basis for stopping any tribal citizen. It might be easy for non-Natives to assume that ICE is simply unaware of tribal citizens’ status, and with proper education and training they will treat Native people as equal citizens, and stop the harassment.
The problem is that ICE already knows full well that Native Americans are citizens.
Even when shown Tribal IDs and passports, many ICE agents have been
dismissive or hostile. And unfortunately there’s a reason. The harassment and detention of Native Americans today is the latest episode in a long and deep history of colonizing Indigenous peoples at home and abroad.
Let’s connect the dots, to show why this trend of anti-Native harassment is no accident: