Navajo alarmed by reports of Indigenous people caught up in Trump immigration raids

The Navajo nation is taking steps to protect its community from federal immigration actions, amid reports that some Indigenous Americans have been swept up in US deportation raids being carried out early in Donald Trump’s second presidency.

In a statement, the Navajo nation president, Buu Nygren, said his office in Window Rock, Arizona, had received reports that tribal members had had “negative, and sometimes traumatizing, experiences with federal agents targeting undocumented immigrants in the south-west”.

Nygren advised Navajo people to carry state-issued identification, such as a driver’s license, other picture identification, or their certificate of Indian blood, known as a CIB. “It’s best to be prepared,” he said. “Having your state ID is crucial, and if you possess a CIB, it can provide an additional layer of reassurance.”

That came alongside reports of at least 15 Indigenous people in Arizona and New Mexico having 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 that began last week.

The Navajo nation council speaker, Crystalyne Curley, told CNN the number of Navajo or members of other Indigenous tribal groups that had been swept up in actions was unclear – or which federal agencies were involved.

“There’s a lot of fear, and I know they’re probably feeling frustrated knowing that they don’t feel safe in the country where they were born or where their ancestors come from, and there’s a lot of frustration of them being stereotyped,” Curley told the outlet.

“I think there’s a confusion with other races, maybe just because having a brown skin, automatically being profiled or stereotyped to be in a certain group of race,” Curley added.

Nygren said in a release that nation officials had been in contact with the US Department of Homeland Security, the governors of Arizona and New Mexico, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), to address the reports.

It was not clear whether the apprehensions were made on reservation land. CNN said one tribal member was involved in a raid in Phoenix and had been released after showing tribal identification.

The Arizona state senator Theresa Hatathlie, who is Diné/Navajo, told CNN of reports that federal agents did not acknowledge the documents as valid proof of citizenship.

“With the way things are going right now, and these types of situations, we have to put measures in place in order to help our constituents and government entities so that they can be a resource,” Hatathlie said.

Operation Rainbow Bridge, a non-profit that supports Navajo citizens who are victims of medical fraud in Arizona, has launched a hotline for Indigenous people affected by the Trump administration’s immigration actions.

The rising anxiety comes as the former South Dakota governor Kristi Noem was confirmed on Saturday as Trump’s secretary of homeland security, the agency that oversees Ice and is tasked with protecting the US “from cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threaten national security and public safety”.

As South Dakota governor, Noem had a contentious relationship with tribal governments in the state. Those governments voted to ban her from tribal lands after she said tribal leaders were profiting from Mexican drug cartels operating on reservation land.

Earlier in January, the Flandreau Santee Sioux lifted its ban on Noem, just days before her confirmation hearing.

Trump also nominated the former North Dakota governor Doug Burgum to secretary of the interior, which includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Burgum as of Monday was awaiting a Senate confirmation vote.