In brief
Following earlier claims of ICE arrests of four Oglala Sioux Tribe members, President Frank Star Comes Out has walked back his statements after the Department of Homeland Security refuted the allegations. This follows escalating tensions over immigration enforcement within Native American communities, raising concerns about government interactions with tribal nations. Star Comes Out later clarified that he had misinterpreted the exchange with federal officials, referencing a need for information access tied to a potential immigration agreement.
The president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe has walked back claims he made in a memo and press release earlier this week that immigration enforcement arrested four tribal members and that the federal government tried to extract an “immigration agreement” out of the tribe in return for information about their members’ whereabouts.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it can’t verify claims that any of their officers arrested or “even encountered” members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe or found anyone in their detention centers claiming to be a tribal member. They denied asking the tribe for any kind of agreement.
Tribal President Frank Star Comes Out has not responded to repeated requests for comment, including after his updated memo was released on Thursday.
The accusations of arrests came at a time when many Native Americans are already concerned over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda and racial profiling by federal agents ensnaring them as well, and as some tribes have grappled with whether to engage in agreements with DHS tied to the crackdown.
Star Comes Out said Tuesday in a message on Facebook that the men were arrested in Minneapolis, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement has launched its biggest operation ever and is increasingly clashing with residents angry at the agency’s tactics.
Star Comes Out also said that when the tribe reached out about the arrests, “federal officials told us that the Tribe could access that information if we entered an immigration agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.”
But in the memo Thursday, Star Comes Out said his earlier statement had been “misinterpreted” and that there was no such demand from federal officials. He said the tribe had been in “cooperative communications” with federal officials about the issue.
He also said the tribe was “working with Tribal, State, and Federal officials to verify” reports that tribal members living in Minneapolis were arrested by ICE. Last year, numerous reports documented similar concerns among various tribes regarding the actions of ICE amidst heightened enforcement.
