ICE detained Native Americans in Minneapolis and tribes are furious

Tribal Leaders Call It a Treaty Violation

The first peoples of this land are getting swept up in immigration raids.

In January 2026, the Trump administration sent over 2,000 federal officers to Minneapolis for what officials called the largest immigration enforcement operation in U.S. history.

Reports indicate that at least five Native American men have been detained by ICE agents, including four homeless Oglala Sioux tribal members found near a Native housing complex—though both the tribe and federal officials are still working to verify these accounts.

Tribal leaders are calling it racial profiling. The Native American Rights Fund says the detentions violate treaty rights and constitutional protections.

And the irony is hard to miss: the original people of this continent are being asked to prove they belong here.

Four Oglala Sioux Men Allegedly Taken Near Little Earth

In early January, ICE agents reportedly detained four men sleeping under a bridge near the Little Earth housing complex in south Minneapolis.

According to Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out, all four were enrolled members of the tribe. The men were homeless and did not have identification on them when agents took them into custody. Their names were not initially available.

One man was released, though the community lost track of him.

Three others were reportedly transferred to an ICE detention facility at Fort Snelling, though the tribe later acknowledged it is still working to verify these claims, and the Department of Homeland Security says it has been unable to locate any such individuals in its custody.

Red Lake Descendant Pulled From His Car

On January 8, 2026—the day after ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Good—20-year-old Jose Roberto Ramirez was driving to visit his aunt in Robbinsdale, a Minneapolis suburb.

Masked federal agents pulled him over, forced him out of the car, and detained him. His aunt filmed the encounter.

Ramirez is a descendant of the Red Lake Nation but is not enrolled because the tribe requires one-quarter blood quantum for membership. Without a tribal ID, he had no way to prove his Indigenous heritage on the spot.

ICE later claimed he assaulted an officer. He was released that day but has since been charged with assaulting a federal officer; he denies the charge.

Tribal President Demands Their Release

Frank Star Comes Out did not mince words.

In a memorandum sent to federal immigration authorities, he called the detentions a violation of tribal treaties, statutory law, and constitutional rights. He said enrolled tribal members are citizens of both the United States and the Oglala Sioux Nation.

When the tribe tried to get information about the detained men, federal officials allegedly said they could access it only by entering an immigration agreement with DHS. Star Comes Out rejected the offer.

The tribe later acknowledged it is still working with federal officials to verify the reports.

Native Americans Have Been Citizens Since 1924

The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 granted birthright citizenship to all Native Americans born within U.S. borders.

Before that, Indigenous people occupied a legal gray zone. The Fourteenth Amendment, which granted citizenship to all persons born in the country, did not apply to them because courts ruled they owed allegiance to their tribes rather than the federal government.

President Calvin Coolidge signed the act on June 2, 1924, making Native Americans among the last groups to receive birthright citizenship.

Today, tribal members hold dual citizenship in both the U.S. and their sovereign nations.

Little Earth Is Native Minneapolis

The Little Earth housing complex is a 212-unit development in south Minneapolis, home to nearly 1,000 people from 38 different tribes.

Founded in 1973 in response to housing discrimination and the effects of the Indian Relocation Act of 1956, it remains the only Native-preference, project-based Section 8 housing community in the country. About half the residents are under 21.

The American Indian Movement was born in this neighborhood, and the area around Little Earth is known as the American Indian Cultural Corridor.

When ICE agents allegedly detained homeless men sleeping near the complex, they were operating in the heart of urban Native America.

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan Fires Back

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is a citizen of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and the highest-ranking Native woman elected to executive office in the country.

When tribal attorneys reached out for help locating the detained men, she responded publicly. She called the racial profiling disgraceful and said ICE was making communities less safe. She told agents to get out of Minnesota.

Flanagan, who has since announced her intention to run for U.S. Senate, has long championed Indigenous rights, including the creation of the nation’s first Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office.

Detained Men Reportedly Sent to Fort Snelling

Three of the Oglala Sioux men were reportedly transferred to an ICE detention facility at Fort Snelling in Minnesota, though this remains unverified.

The location carries painful significance.

In the winter of 1862, after the U.S.-Dakota War, about 1,658 Dakota people were held in a concentration camp on the river flats below the fort. Most were women, children, and the elderly. Hundreds died from measles and other diseases. The survivors were exiled from Minnesota the following spring.

Nick Estes, a professor at the University of Minnesota and Lower Brule Sioux member, said the site has a notorious anti-Indigenous history.

Navajo Citizens Stopped in the Southwest

The incidents in Minneapolis are not isolated.

In late January 2025, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said his office received reports that tribal citizens in Arizona and New Mexico experienced “negative, and sometimes traumatizing” encounters with federal agents targeting undocumented immigrants in the Southwest.

The Navajo Nation set up a toll-free number so members could request copies of their Certificate of Indian Blood or tribal ID. Leaders urged citizens to carry identification at all times.

In November 2025, Leticia Jacobo, a member of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community in Arizona, was arrested in Iowa and erroneously scheduled to be deported before the error was caught, and she was released.

Native Rights Groups Issue Warnings

The Native American Rights Fund released a Know Your Rights flyer telling tribal members what to do if approached by ICE. The guidance says to carry a state-issued ID or tribal card, stay calm, and record encounters when possible.

NARF Executive Director John Echohawk said, “It is hard to miss the irony of locking up the first people of this land in an immigration sweep.”

Multiple tribes have extended office hours to help members get identification documents faster.

The Minneapolis Operation Turns Deadly

On January 7, 2026, ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old American citizen, in south Minneapolis.

Good was in her car when agents approached. The video shows Ross firing three shots. She died about an hour later.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey watched the footage and told ICE to get out of his city. Governor Tim Walz declared January 9 to be a “Day of Unity.”

The shooting sparked protests across the country and a federal lawsuit that now bars agents from detaining peaceful observers.

Tribes Say Their Citizenship Is Not Negotiable

The Oglala Sioux Tribe sent a clear message to its members: if detained by ICE, say you are a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation and a U.S. citizen by birthright under the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.

The tribe said ICE has no lawful authority to detain enrolled members.

Chase Iron Eyes, an Oglala Sioux activist who traveled to Minneapolis to search for the missing men, said the situation blurs the line between law and order and lawlessness.

Native communities across the country are watching what happens next. Their citizenship, they say, is not up for debate.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

Read more from this brand:

• Minnesota Woman Drove a Federal Agent to the Police at Gunpoint
• The ICE Agent Who Shot Renee Good is Now a Millionaire
• Billionaire Gifts $10K to ICE Agent Who Shot Minneapolis Mom