ICE holding 3 indigenous Americans ‘hostage’ to force tribal ‘immigration agreement’

The president of the Oglala Sioux in South Dakota has said that Trump’s fascist ICE agency is holding three members of his tribe hostage and called for their immediate and unconditional release. ICE detained the men at a Minnesota homeless encampment last week, part of a series of aggressive raids on indigenous American tribal facilities.

Of four Sioux men arrested, the agency transferred three to an ICE facility set up at Minnesota’s 19th-century concentration camp Fort Snelling. Sioux president Frank Star Comes Out pointed out to ICE that ICE has no jurisdiction over the Sioux people, who are not immigrants and were on their land long before European immigrants arrived:

The Oglala Sioux Tribe’s memorandum makes clear that ‘tribal citizens are not aliens’ and are ‘categorically outside immigration jurisdiction. Enrolled tribal members are citizens of the United States by statute and citizens of the Oglala Sioux Nation by treaty.

ICE using hostages as leverage

He said that Homeland Security (DHS), ICE’s parent agency, had said it would not release the men – or even any information about them – unless the Sioux “entered into an immigration agreement with ICE.” He added that the tribe has no intention of making any agreement.

Fort Snelling was the first settler fort in the area and is a symbol of oppression to indigenous people. Minnesota professor Nick Estes, a specialist in indigenous tribes, said:

It has this really notorious anti-Indigenous, specifically anti-Dakota, history. It’s kind of like a continuation on the monopoly of violence from the military outpost to the ICE facility.

The DHS later denied ever having arrested the men, or knowing anything about them, despite eyewitness reports to the contrary. Star Comes Out, likely under pressure from DHS to amend his story to assist the regime’s damage control efforts, then said his ‘hostage’ claim had been “misinterpreted”.

Indigenous groups have established tribal ID cards for local people to use if they are stopped by ICE thugs. ‘Minneapolis American Indian Center’ director Mary LaGarde said that she had never expected to have to wear one but that every tribal member should:

I never thought that I’d have my tribal ID hanging around my neck, but I do. So, it’s just important that they have proper identification on them and not to panic.

Featured image via the Canary