Native American Sovereignty and Treaties

The Oglala Sioux Tribe, one of the largest Indigenous nations in the U.S., has formally accused Immigration and Customs Enforcement of illegally holding four Oglala citizens swept up in recent Minneapolis ICE raids and says it was told federal officials would share information on them only if the tribe signed a cooperation agreement with ICE. In a Jan. 13 memo to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, tribal president Frank Star Comes Out says the four men, described as homeless and living under a bridge near the Little Earth housing complex, are U.S. citizens and 'categorically outside immigration jurisdiction,' and that placing them in immigration detention after verifying their citizenship would be unlawful. The tribe refused to enter an agreement it says would violate its treaties and give ICE easier access to tribal homelands, calling the detentions 'a treaty violation' and warning that 'sovereignty is not conditional,' while noting the detainees are reportedly held at Fort Snelling — a historic Dakota incarceration site tied to the 1862 mass execution of 38+2 Dakota men. ICE and DHS did not respond to Axios’ questions, and the tribe is threatening aggressive legal action, potentially joined by other Native nations, as part of the broader backlash to Trump‑era immigration crackdowns and Minneapolis raids already under civil‑rights and oversight scrutiny.