Tribe develops policy for ICE response

By Nicole Montesano

Smoke Signals staff writer

The Tribe has developed a policy for responding to the presence of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents or other federal immigration authorities on campus.

It requires Tribal police to handle all interactions and bans employees from authorizing or disclosing employment information or information about Tribal membership, including current location. “Requests for such information should be directed to the human resources director or other designated authority,” it stated.

ICE agents “may enter public areas to the same extent as the general public,” as per the new policy, but may not enter non-public areas unless they present a valid signed judicial warrant – meaning one signed by a federal judge or magistrate – and it has been reviewed by Tribal Police Chief Jake McKnight.

Administrative warrants, which the agency often uses, are not signed by a federal judge or magistrate, and do not authorize access to non-public areas.

The policy, developed in consultation with several department managers, notes the Tribe’s sovereign status, pointing out that “Federal immigration enforcement actions on Tribal lands may occur only as permitted by federal law, Tribal law and applicable agreements (such as MOUs or cross-deputization agreements). Nothing in this policy waives Tribal sovereignty or jurisdiction.”

The policy states that, “If an employee is approached or contacted on Tribal property by anyone identifying themselves as an ICE or Border Patrol agent, the employee should ask to see identification and then shall immediately contact” Tribal Police, Tribal Council Chief of Staff Stacia Hernandez and Human Resources Director Sarah Harvey.

Employees have the right to remain silent and should remain “professional, calm and respectful at all times.” They “should not obstruct immigration enforcement agents activities on campus.”

Interim General Manager Bryan Langley said in an announcement to employees that the Tribe is “also looking at implementing a standard response protocol, so if we send out a notification that says lockdown, everyone will know what that means.”

Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote in a letter sent to Tribes across the country that, “ICE does not target and will not target, Native Americans or any U.S. citizens based on appearance, ethnicity or community affiliation. To date, there have not been any ICE operations in Tribal lands.”

Noem wrote that, “ICE agents recognize Tribal identification cards and continue to acknowledge Tribal IDs as proper and accepted identification to verify citizenship status. I encourage all Native people who have a valid state driver’s license, passport or state identification card to also use those forms of identification if approached by federal law enforcement and asked for identification.”

Some members of other Tribes have reported having the validity of their Tribal identifications denied by ICE agents or being detained. Noem dismissed those claims as “misinformation” and wrote that she was “disappointed” to see Tribal leaders whom she said had asked the Biden administration for assistance in removing cartel affiliates from Tribal lands “took Tribal council action to ban ICE from your reservations, making false claims that Tribal members have been detained by ICE, misrepresenting facts and spreading misinformation.”