[At least 15 Indigenous people in Arizona and New Mexico have reported being stopped at their homes and workplaces, questioned or detained by federal law enforcement and asked to produce proof of citizenship during immigration raids since Wednesday, according to Navajo Nation officials.
The reports, which have caused panic amongst tribal communities in both states, come amid the Trump administration’s attempt to ramp up undocumented immigrant arrests nationwide and amass a larger force to carry out the president’s deportation pledge.
Navajo Nation officials have contacted the Department of Homeland Security, the governors of Arizona and New Mexico, and ICE to address the reports, the Office of Navajo President Buu Nygren said in a news release Friday.
The reported raids and the exact number of Navajo and other Indigenous tribal citizens who were apprehended are still under investigation, Navajo Nation Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley told CNN. It is unclear if Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other law enforcement entities were conducting the apprehensions.
The reports have triggered panic and anger stemming from generational trauma endured by Native people whose ancestors and elders had to fight to take back mere fragments of their land and reclaim their language and culture, which they had so long been forbidden from practicing.
“I think there’s a confusion with other races, maybe just because having a brown skin, automatically being profiled or stereotyped to be in a certain group of race,” Curley said.
Justin Ahasteen, executive director of the Navajo Nation Washington Office, said his office has not confirmed any reports of ICE action against Navajo citizens. However, Ahasteen did confirm that one tribal member was involved in a raid in Phoenix, which he described as a “wrong place, wrong time” situation.
The person was released, Ahasteen said.
Arizona state Sen. Theresa Hatathlie, who is Diné/Navajo, told CNN she received a report from the family of a Navajo woman who said she was questioned by ICE and asked to show proof that she was Native after her workplace was raided Wednesday morning.
The woman says she was at her work site in Scottsdale, Arizona, when she and seven other Indigenous citizens were lined up behind white vans and questioned for two hours without their cell phones or a way to contact their families, according to Hatathlie.
Navajo Nation officials urged Diné and other Indigenous tribal citizens to apply for tribal ID cards, such as the Navajo Nation Identification card, if they don’t have one. Families are also being urged to educate their children on the ongoing incidents.
The guidance also advises against opening their doors if immigration agents show up at their homes without showing a valid warrant signed by a judge.
The Navajo Nation Office of the President released a tip guide for Diné who are confronted by immigration agents. The guide advises them to request to see the agents’ identification to confirm their legitimacy, exercise their right to remain silent and speak to an attorney if they are arrested or detained, and to document the interaction if possible so they can later report the encounter.
The reports have triggered concerns for the safety of multiple Native tribes who live in areas near the border, including Tohono O’odham, who have been in the Sonoran Desert for thousands of years and live on both sides, regularly traveling back and forth, Jackson said.
“No one is illegal on stolen land,” Jackson said. “It really goes back to the Indigenous way of life, that everything is made for the people. People have to understand that this is not the way to live or to be honorable and neighborly with each other.”
The recent immigration raids and their impact on his community are “shameful,” Jackson said. “It’s making people hyperaware of their surroundings, limiting their travel in their daily lives because they worry they will get stopped.”
Operation Rainbow Bridge, a nonprofit that supports Navajo citizens who are victims of Medicaid fraud in Arizona, has launched the Immigration Crisis Initiative to assist Indigenous people impacted by federal law enforcement raids.
Diné elder James Jackson, an honored activist in the Navajo community, told CNN the recent immigration raids and their impact on his community are “shameful.” “It’s making people hyperaware of their surroundings, limiting their travel in their daily lives because they worry they will get stopped,” Jackson said.
“We’ve come a long way building relations, but these initiatives of the current administration are a huge step backwards,” Hatathlie said. “These are the attitudes and the mindset of privileged individuals.”
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