The laws governing whether ICE agents are permitted on tribal land are still unclear, to say the least. Throwing around the idea that federal agents are permitted to enter any area for federal crimes, ICE agents will definitely flaunt their power wherever they can. With agents arriving in Minnesota, things have been shaky. From a recent fatal shooting to protests taking place at hotels where ICE sleeps at night, they’ve been showing up in the news constantly – and for good reason. Now, a group of Minnesota citizens is calling out ICE for showing up on native land where they certainly don’t belong.
A TikTok posted by @.im.rezzy shows ICE agents harassing citizens on native land in Little Earth, Minnesota. No information was given on why they were there in the first place. However, a group of individuals assembled to tell them that they weren’t supposed to be there. They told ICE officials, “You aren’t supposed to be here” and questioned what they were doing. One woman even asked the agents, “You think all brown people look alike?”
It’s clear that the ICE agents didn’t know that they were on reservation property or they just didn’t care. When asked if they were aware of Little Earth being an inner-city Native American Reservation, they didn’t have much to say. One agent questioned if it was a reservation, and they replied, “Yes.” He then held out his hands to them and said, “If this is a reservation, I’ll get my guys out of here. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Believe me, I get this a lot.”
The agent who spoke with the group returns to his ICE cronies, who stare threateningly at the assembled group of Native citizens. The group notices that they tried to arrest somebody, and they try to get the men to scatter. They keep telling them, “You guys gotta go.” It’s unclear if an arrest on Native land would hold up. It seems like a huge abuse of power in this area. Either way, it’s disgusting and disturbing behavior to see on native land. It’s a total disrespect of the native people.
One commenter pointed out, “It’s no longer about color or tint or accents. It’s just about survival.” Another commenter stated, “ICE is about to find out about tribal law. They probably didn’t study it in their six weeks of classroom study.” One commenter tried to explain that the laws on ICE arrests on tribal land are somewhat clear. They shared that they aren’t supposed to be on that property unless a judge signs a warrant. It seems there was a lot of oversight here, but ICE never really cared to follow the rules.
