This week, ICT, a nonprofit news organization focused on Indigenous communities, reported that at least five Native Americans were detained by ICE in Minneapolis—even though every one of them is a United States citizen.
The detentions come as anger and fear are boiling over nationwide following the fatal shooting of an unarmed woman by ICE agents in Minneapolis. Protests erupted across the country on Sunday, Jan. 11, as public outrage grows over increasingly aggressive and reckless immigration enforcement tactics.
For Native communities, the message has been chilling: citizenship is being ignored, and racial profiling is filling the gap.
In response, Bay Mills Indian Community President Whitney Gravelle issued a warning to tribal members, cautioning that ICE activity could expand into Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She reminded tribal citizens of a reality that should never need repeating: Native Americans are U.S. citizens by law.
“ICE agents have stopped and detained tribal members and their descendants, raising urgent concerns about dignity, safety, and basic respect,” Gravelle wrote. “All Bay Mills Indian Community citizens are United States citizens under the Snyder Act—the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. ICE has no authority over U.S. citizens in immigration matters.”
Gravelle made clear that these actions are not just illegal—they are an insult to history. “These encounters spit in the face of our ancestors’ sacrifices,” she wrote, “and violate the fundamental values of respect for human life and mutual protection.”
The condemnation did not stop there.
In a separate statement, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians Chairman Austin Lowes denounced what he called intimidation-driven enforcement that is putting innocent people in danger.
“These ICE actions have created fear, confusion, and anxiety in Indigenous communities and beyond,” Lowes said. “Enforcement rooted in intimidation and racial profiling destroys public trust and places innocent citizens at risk.”
Lowes was blunt: no one should fear arrest in their own homeland because of how they look.
“Recent incidents involving the unlawful detention of tribal citizens are unacceptable,” he said. “Tribal citizens belong to sovereign governments. These actions disregard tribal sovereignty and shred the government-to-government relationship between tribal nations and the United States.”
The legal history is unambiguous. While the 15th Amendment was passed in 1870, Native Americans were systematically denied its protections until 1924, when Congress finally recognized them as U.S. citizens through the Snyder Citizenship Act.
That law clearly states that Native Americans born within U.S. borders are citizens—without sacrificing tribal rights or sovereignty.
Yet more than a century later, ICE is still acting as if Native citizenship is optional.
For tribal leaders, these detentions are not accidents or misunderstandings. They are the predictable result of enforcement policies that prioritize intimidation over legality, and profiling over constitutional rights.
And until accountability follows, Native Americans are being forced—once again—to defend citizenship they were legally granted generations ago.
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