Caught in the midst of Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown are Native Americans who have been targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). There is a lot of irony here since we took their land, but cruelty is the point.
CBS reports:
This year, the Navajo Nation said dozens of Native Americans have been questioned or detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, even though Indigenous people can’t be deported.
You may recognize Native American actress Elaine Miles from her roles in “Northern Exposure,” “The Last of Us,” and “Smoke Signals.” She said ICE agents approached her last month near a bus stop in Redmond, Washington, asking for her ID, and then said it looked fake.
“I kept telling them that it was from a federally recognized tribe in eastern Oregon. It’s a federal ID, and only enrolled members can get those because they kept saying anybody could make them,” Miles said.
Also in November, Leticia Jacobo, an Indigenous woman, was set to be released from an Iowa jail after serving time for a traffic violation. Her aunt, Maria Nunez, said things went downhill when the family tried to pick her up.
“They stated to her that she was to be released at midnight, but was not going to be released because she had an ICE detention hold on her,” Nunez said.
