Concerns over ICE arrests leave Native American tribal members scrambling to get new IDs

SAM DINGMAN: The latest surge in ICE activity has largely targeted migrants, but reports have emerged about Native American tribal citizens being targeted as well. Back in January, a Navajo man named Peter Yazzie was at a gas station in Peoria when he says ICE agents pulled him out of his car.

He told ABC15 about the experience.

PETER YAZZIE (in video clip): Started yelling orders what to do and complied with them until after was down on the ground and zip tied. That’s when they told me who they were.

ABC 15 REPORTER JANE CAFFREY: Yazzie says he tried to prove he’s a U.S. citizen, telling agents he had documents in his car, including his Certificate of Indian Blood, driver’s license and birth certificate. He was still detained.

DINGMAN: In response to these and other reported incidents, Indian Country Today recently reported that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sent a letter to tribal leaders calling claims that enrolled tribal citizens are being detained "false."

"ICE does not target and will not target Native Americans or any US Citizens based on appearance, ethnicity or community affiliation," she wrote.

But that has not put to rest the widespread concern in tribal communities. KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has been tracking this, and joined The Show.

GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: Morning, Sam.

DINGMAN: You heard directly from DHS about this, if I’m not mistaken. What did they tell you?

PIETRORAZIO: I spoke with the ICE acting comms director a while back when we first heard about the Leticia Jacobo incident, which was a member of the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community — who is an Iowa resident — who was arrested on charges at their county jail in Polk County. And the person with the exact same name as her was also there, but on an ICE detainer.

And there was a confusion mishap, essentially, where basically they thought she may have been subject to deportation because of the same name. And when I reached out to ICE about that incident, they confirmed that we honor tribal IDs, which are the same as federal IDs, and that was what the ICE comms director had told me.

In the wake of that, we’ve seen the incident with Peter Yazzie, as you mentioned, and others that are being swept up in the raids and crackdowns.

DINGMAN: So the Navajo Nation has set up a hotline where people can report concerns about potential ICE detainments. Let’s listen to a clip of what it sounds like when you call that hotline.

HOTLINE (recording): Welcome to the Navajo Nation ORB helpline. For immigration questions, press 1.

DINGMAN: And we also have this clip here from Thomas Cody, the executive director of the Navajo Nation Department of Social Services, talking about how they set the hotline up.

THOMAS CODY (clip): A lot of the work that we did from Operation Rainbow Bridge from the Florida activities came useful when we got into ICE.

DINGMAN: So what’s the backstory of this hotline, Gabe?

PIETRORAZIO: Sure. So Operation Rainbow Bridge, or ORB, was established in 2023, and it was meant to help basically Navajos who were caught up in another issue that led to Indigenous peoples going missing, which was the fraudulent sober living homes, and the scandal essentially with AHCCCS and medical fraud, essentially, and abuse. And so this was a response to that initially three years ago.

And essentially, when I spoke to Director Thomas Cody, they essentially reactivated that system but to use it for Immigration Customs Enforcement and to track and document instances where Diné people are being detained and to help provide legal support for those members.

DINGMAN: And so all of this that we’ve been talking about so far, this is happening as the tribes are also facing a backlog in processing requests to get tribal identification cards, correct?

PIETRORAZIO: That’s right. So there’s been a longstanding challenge with some of these IDs, generally speaking, various levels of credibility that are seen. So there are some tribes that are reissuing IDs altogether to everyone because they’re updating them, making them more legitimate in the eyes of the government.

But also there’s the backlog, as you mentioned. And that was an issue of concern to Democratic State Rep. Myron Tsosie (D-Chinle), who passed a bill last year that went into effect this January, where Native Americans in the state of Arizona can request a Native American ID designation on a driver’s license or an ID.

And at that time, when I spoke to him, he said this had nothing to do with ICE. It wasn’t on the radar for him, but it was to help essentially with members who couldn’t get their IDs, like himself.

DINGMAN: And I think we actually have a little clip here from Tsosie talking about that.

MYRON TSOSIE (clip): I had applied for a tribal ID card myself with Navajo, and I was put on the wait list. And that was five years ago, and to this day, I haven’t received it yet.

DINGMAN: So that was five years ago. Wow.

And if I’m hearing you right, the implication there is that if he applied five years ago and hasn’t been able to get his card yet — and that was before these new concerns about the ICE raids — that’s potentially alarming for folks who would feel some urgency about getting a card now to avoid these circumstances we’ve been talking about.

PIETRORAZIO: I think it’s a way for this new system and from ADOT, as of last month, we had over 1,650 requests for the new designation since it went into effect. And as Tsosie was telling me, those IDs expire within five years, at least for Navajo. So if it occurred, if he did get it, it would have already expired by the time he had gotten it within that five-years window.

DINGMAN : Right, right. So he would have to get in line again. And what was that number you just said in the last month?

PIETRORAZIO: 1,650 within the last month, through ADOT, essentially requesting for the new ID designation.

And what’s interesting also is that Representative Tsosie was championing the legislation in the states of Utah and New Mexico. Neighboring New Mexico’s legislator actually turned down the bill. It killed the bill that would have had the same designation on their IDs across the border.

DINGMAN: Wow. Wow. Well, we have just about a minute left here, Gabe. One more layer of complication to add. Secretary Noem, as we mentioned, has called these claims of detention false, but clearly they are being reported.

ICE has this online locator tool where you can theoretically search for someone who has been detained. But for tribal members, not that simple, for sure.

PIETRORAZIO: I think what we saw when I was looking for Leticia Jacobo and also Peter Yazzie was that you have to look for a country origin, essentially, to find where are these people? And there’s no other option but the unknown. But it’s not so intuitive for you to think that that would be what you picked.

And when I spoke to Leticia Jacobo, she said, where would I be deported to? Because I’m a U.S. citizen, and this is all I’ve known. She was born here in Arizona, from Salt River.

DINGMAN: Well, there’s obviously a lot to keep an eye on here as this situation develops. That is KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio, who covers Indigenous affairs for us here at the station. Gabe, thank you very much.

PIETRORAZIO: Thanks for having me.