15 Members Of Navajo Nation Detained In ICE Raid - Is Any Non-White Person Safe?
By: Desmond Price
Navajo Nation leaders raise alarm over reports of Indigenous people detained during immigration sweeps
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.
The reported raids and the exact number of Diné/Navajo and other Indigenous tribal citizens who were apprehended are still under investigation.
Navajo Nation officials have contacted the Department of Homeland Security, the governors of Arizona and New Mexico, and ICE to address the reports.
“My office has received multiple reports from Navajo citizens that they have had negative, and sometimes traumatizing, experiences with federal agents targeting undocumented immigrants in the Southwest,” Nygren said in the release.
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.
Souce - CNN
My Reaction To This Story
As a Black man living in the Whitest state in America, the topic of dealing with racism is nothing new for me. There was a time in my life where I was surrounded by White people who consistently would say the N word around me, sometimes to my face.
Yes I’m serious.
White people are always shocked when I talk about this, but people of color never are. The reality of not being White in America comes with a lot trauma for most non-White folks.
I’ve been told how Black people aren’t worthy of equal treatment & told that, because I was Black, I wasn’t allowed in their house. At the time I was too young to understand just how damaging those days were, but they stuck with me for the rest of my life.
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