Navajo Nation Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley called for swift action from Navajo tribal leaders to address the concern over ICE raids that have impacted Navajo people living in urban areas. (Photo courtesy of the Navajo Nation Council)
As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement intensifies its efforts to apprehend and deport undocumented immigrants throughout the country, concern is rising among Indigenous communities residing in urban areas about reports of Indigenous people being detained in the Valley.
Since President Donald Trump issued his executive order for an increase in ICE raids, Navajo tribal leaders have received alarming reports that their tribal members are being detained, heightening uncertainties over the implications these actions have for their communities and the safety of their people.
“We now know that Navajo people and enrolled members of other tribes are being detained in Phoenix and other cities by ICE,” Navajo Nation Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley said during a committee meeting on Thursday. “The reports that we have received indicate that we need to coordinate an operation or some type of response to help our enrolled tribal members here on the Navajo Nation.”
On Thursday, Navajo tribal leaders reported that they have received calls and text messages from Navajo people living in urban areas who have been stopped, questioned or detained by ICE. Those reports sparked outrage among Navajo Nation Council members and prompted a detailed discussion of the topic during a Naabik’íyáti’ Committee meeting.
“These raids have sparked significant fear, especially among tribal members in urban areas who face challenges with documentation,” the Navajo Nation Council said in a press release. A verified number of the Navajo people who have been detained was not shared during the committee meeting.
State Sen. Theresa Hatathlie joined the committee meeting virtually and shared her report and concerns in Navajo. Hatathlie represents the Legislative District 6, which encompasses the Navajo Nation.
Hatathlie reported to the council that she received a call about a case involving a Navajo citizen who was detained for nine hours. She did not share the individual’s identity. Hatahtlie told council members that there is a need for emergency protocols because many tribal members already struggle with access to proper documentation, which can get worse under the ICE sweeps.
“Despite possessing Certificates of Indian Blood (CIBs) and state-issued IDs, several individuals have been detained or questioned by ICE agents who do not recognize these documents as valid proof of citizenship,” the Navajo Nation Council stated in a press release.
Curley called for immediate assistance from Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren.
“Our people are reaching out to us directly, and their needs are urgent,” Curley said. “We must act swiftly to ensure their safety and well-being.”
She said that the Navajo people depend on the tribe for solutions and that Nygren’s response to the issue has been insufficient.
“We need clear records and tracking systems to understand the scope of these issues,” Curley said. “We cannot wait for another incident. We need emergency protocols now.”
‘More American than America’
Nygren told the Arizona Mirror that his office has heard the concerns coming into his office and circulating on social media about Indigenous people in urban areas potentially being detained by ICE. However, he said that his office has not been able to verify or successfully reach a Navajo person who has been detained.
“I am glad that not one of our citizens has been detained for any of this,” he said, adding that his administration is currently working to gather information for people who are concerned.
“Being Indigenous, being Navajo, you’re more American than being American,” Nygren said. “We got to have that respect from the federal government.”
Nygren said his team has contacted the governors of Arizona and New Mexico, as well as all state and federal public safety officials, organizations, ICE and other departments to inform them that the tribe is paying attention to this concern.
“We’re not going to back down when it comes to our Navajo citizens,” he said. “Our team is focused, and we want to make sure that the Navajo people stay informed.”
Nygren’s office also shared a guide on social media, which Navajo people living in urban areas can refer to if immigration agents confront them.
The guide shares tips that include: do not resist, document the encounter, report the encounter, and if detained or arrested, exercise their right to remain silent and speak to an attorney.
Outside of state and federal entities, Nygren said his office has also contacted tribes who live along the border because they have more experience dealing with these situations.
“The advice they gave us is to have your ID and be respectful,” he said, adding that the tribal leaders reported that there has been no unusual activity within their communities.
“This is one of those situations where I didn’t think a few days ago I’d be talking about,” Nygren said.
Even though there was an influx of concerns, Nygren said his office would not issue an executive order related to the concerns until it verified a case involving a Navajo person.
If he issued an executive order, Nygren said it would be similar to how the Navajo Nation responded to the sober living crisis that hit Navajo people in Arizona, and the tribe deployed resources to the Phoenix area to help.
But the president said they did that because “we had confirmed cases that were very valid. That’s the difference.” He said there was a lot of evidence of the sober living crisis and confirmed cases of people being impacted, and he had the means to deploy resources.
“Right at this moment, I do not have a single person that’s detained for me to even consider it,” Nygren said, adding that his office is preparing and setting a plan in place.
That approach infuriated Navajo Nation Council delegates during the Naabik’íyáti’ Committee meeting, and they criticized the administration’s choice to wait until there are verified cases.
“If someone was picked up right now, our message to them is they will have to wait,” Delegate Eugenia Charles-Newton said during the committee meeting.
“Our people are afraid to travel, speak out or interact with law enforcement due to the threat of retaliation,” Charles-Newton said. “This fear must be addressed with systemic solutions.”
Navajo Nation Deputy Attorney General Kris Beecher said during the committee meeting that tribal leaders should encourage their constituents to be respectful during interactions with law enforcement, and that they should carry their state and tribal IDs at all times.
Tribal leaders with the Naabik’íyáti’ Committee committed to moving emergency legislation to support those impacted by the raids and ensure swift access to identification for Navajo citizens.
“It is unacceptable for our people to be detained because their tribal documents are not recognized,” Curley said. “This injustice must end.”
The committee also pointed out the need to enhance the Navajo Nation’s identification system to meet federal standards, including remote enrollment systems and resources to issue tribal IDs recognized by federal agencies.
The delegates emphasized the urgency of emergency legislation to facilitate identification issuance and resource access for those impacted by the raids.
“We are committed to protecting the rights of every Navajo citizen,” Delegate Vince James said. “This legislation will prioritize the safety of our people and provide a framework for immediate action.”
The committee also stressed the need for collaboration with state and federal governments, as well as other tribal nations, to address the broader implications of these raids. Plans include a toll-free hotline, community outreach to educate citizens on their rights and legal support for those affected by ICE actions.
The Navajo Nation Council said that Navajo tribal members impacted by ICE raids should contact the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission Office at (928) 871-7436.
Community advocate Reva Stewart, who does direct outreach to Indigenous people who are unhoused within the Phoenix area, said she has received an influx of concerned calls from families across Arizona.
Stewart founded a nonprofit organization called Turtle Island Women Warriors that focuses on helping Indigenous people displaced by the sober living crisis in the Phoenix area.
Stewart said that due to the increase in concern surrounding the ICE raids, her team’s weekly outreach efforts will start with details about an individual’s rights if they are ever approached, questioned or detained by an immigration agent.
“We have to make sure that we’re telling them,” Stewart said, adding that they want to ensure that tribal members remember to keep their tribal enrollment information on them if they don’t have a state-issued ID.
“This is an added issue we shouldn’t be having,” she said, noting that many of the unhoused Indigenous people in the Phoenix area may not have their identification documents, leaving them vulnerable to immigration sweeps.
“It’s scary,” she said.
‘We’ve been here before’
April Ignacio, co-founder of Indivisible Tohono, grew up and lives on the Tohono O’odham Nation, whose tribal lands are on both sides of the Arizona-Mexico border.
“We still have our traditional villages in Mexico,” Ignacio said, adding that the U.S. Border Patrol and Customs has had a presence within their tribal community for decades.
“We’ve been here before — this isn’t something new,” she said of the increased immigration actions being implemented by the Trump administration. “We have tribal members that still have their rights violated, if not daily, and there is no way to hold them accountable to that.”
However, Ignacio said she understands how there are people who go through their entire lives without being approached by an ICE officer or the Border Patrol, especially among Indigenous people.
Out of Arizona’s 22 federally recognized tribes, only four have tribal lands located near the Mexican border: the Tohono O’odham Nation, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, the Cocopah Indian Tribe and the Fort Yuma-Quechan Tribe.
“Our relationship with the border is far more different than other tribes in Arizona who are now putting out statements about what this administration is pushing forward,” Ignacio said.
She added that she understands that tribal nations located far from the Mexico border are experiencing these immigration policies firsthand for the first time. So, the underlying fear coming from Indigenous people living in urban areas who have never experienced this before is justifiable, she said, adding that is why they need to know their rights because what they see right now is how elections have consequences.
“I don’t think any of us Natives are naive in knowing how state and federal legislation and laws impact our lives,” Ignacio said. “But what was normalized for us down south is now being publicly acknowledged and publicized by the media.”
She said this includes the threats, harassment, raids, deportations and other forms of violence that have been used against the Tohono O’odham have always been there, and now other tribes are experiencing it.
“Being Native in this country is political,” Ignacio said. And now that these policies are touching more tribes, she said there will be a lot more pushback — something that will benefit all tribes.
Birthright citizenship
Ignacio said the Trump administration’s new policies are taking aim at tribal communities in new and shocking ways, which will draw attention to them and spur tribal responses.
For example, the Trump administration openly questioned the U.S. citizenship of Indigenous peoples as part of its defense of Trump’s executive order to suspend birthright citizenship in the U.S.
Trump signed the executive order shortly after he was sworn into office this week. It would end birthright citizenship for babies born to a mother and father who are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents.
A federal judge in Seattle on Thursday temporarily blocked the executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship, calling Trump’s action “blatantly unconstitutional.”
In defending the constitutionality of the executive order, the U.S. Department of Justice erroneously argued in court that Indigenous people didn’t have birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment because they were not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States, so neither should the children of noncitizen immigrants.
“The United States’ connection with the children of illegal aliens and temporary visitors is weaker than its connection with members of Indian tribes,” DOJ argued in a filing. “If the latter link is insufficient for birthright citizenship, the former certainly is,” the Trump administration argued.”
The DOJ cited an 1884 U.S. Supreme Court case, Elk v. Wilkins, in which the high court decided that “because members of Indian tribes owe ‘immediate allegiance’ to their tribes, they are not ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States and are not constitutionally entitled to Citizenship.”
But the DOJ ignored congressional action, the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, that explicitly gave Indigenous people U.S. birthright citizenship and effectively ended the rejection of citizenship that the Supreme Court had upheld four decades earlier.
Before the act, there were two main ways an Indigenous person could become a citizen: enlistment and land allotment. As part of the Dawes Act of 1887, every Indigenous person who received an allotment of land, voluntarily took up residence there and had “adopted habits of civilized life” — that is, lived separate and apart from the tribe — was declared to be a citizen of the United States.
A few tribal nations had citizenship included in their treaty rights negotiated with the federal government, while others worked with the state to earn citizenship for their people, but there was no federal law that included Indigenous people as citizens.
Thousands of Indigenous people served in World War I, but when they returned home, they were not considered citizens in the country they fought for. Not until the United States passed the Citizenship Act of 1919 were all Indigenous World War I veterans granted citizenship.
It would be five more years before President Calvin Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, which gave birthright citizenship to “all non-citizen Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States.”
Ignacio said that the federal court’s order blocking Trump’s ban on birthright citizenship will give tribes at least six to eight months to prepare better and understand how it will impact them.
“No matter which way you slice or dice it, the way it is going to touch tribes is in how it affects their sovereignty,” she added.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Arizona Mirror, like Oregon Capital Chronicle, is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com.