Oglala Sioux says tribal citizens swept up in Minneapolis ICE surge

The Oglala Sioux Tribe says four of its enrolled members were detained by ICE in Minneapolis on Jan. 8, with one later released and three now held at the Whipple Federal Building detention center at Fort Snelling. In a formal memo to federal agencies, tribal president Star Comes Out argues that enrolled tribal members are U.S. citizens by statute and fall outside immigration jurisdiction, calling the arrests "a treaty violation" and demanding their immediate release, written assurances the practice will stop, and direct government‑to‑government consultation. The tribe says it has had to piece together only first names and locations through jail searches and ICE hotlines, underscoring the lack of transparency around who is being picked up during the current Twin Cities enforcement surge. DHS has not yet answered FOX 9’s questions about the detentions, and there is no public evidence ICE had non‑immigration criminal warrants for these individuals. The allegation that federal agents are jailing U.S.‑citizen tribal members under immigration authority takes the already‑explosive Metro Surge controversy into treaty‑rights territory and raises hard questions about how accurate ICE’s targeting really is in Minneapolis.