ICE detains Oglala Sioux members at historic Fort Snelling
Published 12:30 pm Thursday, January 29, 2026
Indigenous and local nonprofit leaders speak out
When three enrolled Oglala Sioux Tribe members were transferred into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at Fort Snelling in January, tribal leaders say the location carried painful weight.
Fort Snelling, located near the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, served as an internment camp during the winter of 1862-63, when approximately 1,700 Dakota elders, women and children were forcibly confined following the U.S.-Dakota Wars. Historians estimate that between 100 to 300 Dakota people died there from starvation, disease and exposure.
The recent detentions stemmed from ICE operations in Minneapolis on Friday, Jan. 9, when four enrolled Oglala Sioux Tribal members were taken into custody. Three were later transferred to Fort Snelling, prompting the tribe to demand their immediate release.
Oglala Sioux Chairman Frank Star Comes Out said the detainment was illegal.
“These are our citizens,” Star Comes Out said. “They are citizens of the United States by law and citizens of Oglala Sioux Nation by treaty. They should not be subject to immigration enforcement.”
Star Comes Out said the Department of Homeland Security has refused to provide information about the detentions and the tribe “entered into an immigration agreement with ICE.” The tribe has denied entering into any such agreement and said it continues to seek clarity on the legal basis of detentions.
Advocacy organizations said the case reflects a broader pattern within ICE that disproportionately harms Indigenous people by failing to recognize tribal citizenship, sovereignty and history.
Local leaders weigh in
Consejo Hispano, a North Coast based organization that “fights against all manifestations of inequality, discrimination, hate, and marginalization, said the detainment was one more example of immigration practices that target, traumatize and destabilize historically marginalized communities.
Consejo Hispanos Executive Director Jenny Pool Radway said many of the people the organization serves are Indigenous to Latin America, including Mixteco, Zapoteco, Purépecha and Maya people. They carry their own histories of colonization and displacement and continue to face discrimination within U.S. immigration systems.
“When ICE detains Indigenous people — whether from the Northern Plains or from Oaxaca, Guatemala or elsewhere — it reflects the same pattern of targeting and dehumanization,” Pool Radway said.
Indigenous people have an inherent right to move freely on their own lands and immigration detentions continue a long legacy of federal policies that have displaced Indigenous communities for generations, she said.
“We believe no one should be detained, deported or disappeared by ICE,” Pool Radway said. “That includes Indigenous people whose presence on this land predates the United States.”
For Chinook Indian Nation Chairman Tony A. Johnson, the detentions of the Oglala tribe members reflects a familiar and deeply troubling pattern.
“What happened to the Oglala tribal members is wholly frustrating and unfortunately predictable,” Johnson said. “The United States is young, especially here in the Pacific Northwest, and is still maturing. No one should forget that the United States was simply planted on top of nations with their own laws that existed here for thousands of years.”
U.S. laws are too often applied selectively, particularly when Indigenous people are involved, he said.
“Our understanding of the U.S. Constitution is that no one can be detained or questioned based on their race or mere assumptions about who they are,” Johnson said. “These incidents reflect a long history of Native people being treated like we don’t belong in our own homelands.”
The Chinook Indian Nation is increasingly concerned by what it views as a rise in detentions of Indigenous people by ICE, he said, including U.S. citizens and tribal citizens whose identities are not recognized by federal authorities.
“Not a single Native person, or U.S. citizen for that matter, should be detained by ICE,” Johnson said. “One wrongful detainment, or death, is too many and should be cause for stopping operations and reviewing the entire system.”
He drew parallels between modern immigration tactics and earlier federal policies that forcibly removed Indigenous children from their families.
“Generations of our elders were taken as youth to the Indian boarding school system,” Johnson said. “Too many of our Chinook citizens died in those schools. And we worry that it is only a matter of time before other tribal members die in ICE detention.”
