Navajo man says he was detained despite ID

Arlyssa D. Becenti

Arizona Republic

USA TODAY NETWORK

PHOENIX – Peter Yazzie told U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents where they could locate his Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood, birth certificate and other documents proving that he was both a U.S. citizen and a Native American. It made no difference. They aggressively placed him in the back of their vehicle and drove away early the morning of Jan. 12.

Yazzie’s morning began as usual, waking at 4 a.m. for his 5 a.m. shift. He was parked at a gas station near his job site when several SUVs pulled in. He assumed it was a drug raid, unaware that ICE was expanding operations throughout Phoenix and surrounding cities.

Wearing vests marked 'POLICE,' Yazzie said, the officers held weapons that did not look like guns but resembled grenade launchers. He later learned from coworkers that the devices were likely used to deploy pepper spray or a similar chemical mist. Two men yelled at Yazzie, telling him to stand facing his vehicle and put his hands on it. He complied, thinking the officers were trying to defuse a situation or some other kind of tactic.

'I put my hands on my back and they started shoving like their knees into my back, pushing my face into the pavement,' Yazzie said. 'That’s when one of them said ‘immigration control.’ So I told them, loud enough and clearly, ‘I’m Native American. My information is all in my vehicle.’ And I told him where to find my wallet, which contained my ID and my Social Security card, as well as the backpack that held my birth certificate and my Certificate of Indian Blood.'

Because the car was registered in his mother’s name, ICE agents accused Yazzie of stealing both the vehicle and his identity. It had recently snowed; his mother was using his truck to navigate the road conditions and haul hay for her livestock, swapping vehicles. He told them that they could call the dealership, that this misunderstanding could be cleared up quickly. They didn’t listen.

Yazzie is a father and the breadwinner of his family. During the winter he lives in his car in Phoenix because of the warmer weather, and in the summer he travels for work. As the agents drove him away, he asked where they were taking him and how long he would be there. No response.

He said he told them 'I have bills and I have kids' but one of the officers said, '‘We’re going to get them, too.’ From there, I just knew that trying to explain myself or to ask questions was just really a waste of time.'

The Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network, contacted the Phoenix Field Office for ICE but did not receive a comment on Yazzie’s detention. The agency also did not answer questions about whether ICE is working with Native American communities in Phoenix and did not clarify whether Certificates of Degree of Indian Blood or tribal identification cards remain valid forms of identification.

Detentions in MN, SD

Lower federal courts barred immigration stops based solely on appearance or workplace, but in September the Supreme Court stayed those rulings, overturning an order blocking ICE from engaging in racial profiling. That paved the way for ICE to detain Native Americans, and there is evidence it has been happening in various parts of the country.

With ICE raids increasing in Minnesota, there have been reports of Native Americans being assaulted and detained, even after identifying themselves as tribal citizens. A TikTok video has gained widespread attention showing ICE agents in Minneapolis striking a U.S. citizen and member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians in the face and body.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota was informed that four members of the tribe were detained. As of Jan. 13, it was reported that one had been released. The remaining tribal citizens were reportedly transferred to the ICE detention center at Fort Snelling, Minnesota.

The tribe called for the immediate release of all enrolled tribal citizens held under immigration authority.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe’s memorandum makes clear that 'tribal citizens are not aliens' and are 'categorically outside immigration jurisdiction.' Enrolled tribal members are citizens of the United States by statute and citizens of the Oglala Sioux Nation by treaty. Immigration detention of tribal citizens is an ultra vires act – 'beyond the powers' – and a breach of the United States’ treaty-based duty of protection, the tribe said.

The reports of tribal citizens being held in ICE detention 'underscores why treaty obligations and federal accountability matter today, not just in history. This is not a misunderstanding or an enforcement discretion issue,' said Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out.

Several organizations provide resources for Native Americans to understand their rights if they encounter law enforcement.

The Native American Rights Fund advises carrying a valid state-issued ID or tribal ID to prove U.S. citizenship. However, not all tribes issue IDs.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona advises Native Americans to carry identification such as a tribal ID, state ID, driver’s license, Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood (which is issued by the federal government) or other proof of citizenship, including a U.S. passport.

Yet Yazzie had documentation proving he was Native American, and it made no difference to the officers.

While his experience might be dismissed as a misunderstanding, for other Native Americans in similar situations it highlights a broader reality: ICE and the federal government often disregard the very documents they require Native people to carry.

Yazzie is Navajo and Laguna Pueblo. His maternal grandfather’s clan is To’aheedliinii, and his paternal grandfather is Laguna Pueblo.

When his documents weren’t considered, 'I felt a lot of anger ... it was dehumanizing,' he said. 'That’s my document that proves who I am. I shouldn’t have to prove it. This is where we were born, my family, for generations. This is where we come from, but even with all the proof there, you want to tell me that I am not who I am, and tell me that I don’t belong here. It was a lot of anger and hatred that was going through me.'

But, he said, 'as I calmed down later ... I had to tell myself that this is not the way I was raised to think.'

‘I can’t run’

Yazzie was placed in a holding cell with seven other men, he said. They told him their stories and asked him for a favor: to contact their families when he got out and let them know where they were.

'Some of them had left for work in the morning, got picked up, never made it home. They don’t know if their vehicles were taken in or if someone claimed them, if anything really happened to it. Some had left to go to the store to pick up whatever ingredients that was for dinner, they got picked up,' he said.

Four hours later, Yazzie was free. He said an officer simply came up and said, 'Your information came back. You’re clear.' There was no apology or explanation, no paperwork to sign off on to regain his property.

Yazzie asked about his vehicle, but the agent did not respond. He then asked for his phone; the agent said they did not have it. After walking approximately a quarter mile, Yazzie encountered one of the ICE agents that brought him in and asked for his phone. The agent told him it was 'at the jail.' Yazzie doubled back. The same ICE agent followed him in, with his phone, and said 'oh, we found your phone.'

From there, Yazzie called his boss, the superintendent, the general foreman and his direct foreman. All offered to pick him up, but he decided to walk back to his car. He found it disheveled: 'My car, my blankets, my clothing, some of the tools I had, everything down to my pocket change was just everywhere. So I had to fix up my car first and then I went into work.'

Even after being picked up by ICE and spending four hours in a holding center, Yazzie still went to work.

He said that when he was detained, he couldn’t believe it at first. When he realized what was happening, he started to question, '‘What if they take me and don’t let me go? What if they take me out of the country? What am I supposed to do? How do I get back? How do I contact my family and my kids?’ All my priorities – my job, my bills, my family – they were on my mind. I support my mom’s bills, my sister, our livestock, our vehicles. If something happened to me, I’d be leaving them in a bad situation for something I had nothing to do with.'

He contacted his family and told them what had happened. He texted his teenage kids, 'I always want you guys to know, and don’t you ever forget, how much I love you.'

His mom told him to just come home, saying there must be work there he could find.

'I just told her, I can’t run. I can’t do that. I can’t show that I’m afraid. I can’t. There’s things in life you really can’t run from and this is one of them,' he said.

Yazzie initially hesitated to speak out about what happened, but a friend urged him to do so, to warn Native American communities to stay alert, because even identifying as Native American and presenting documentation may not be enough.

'It really won’t matter,' Yazzie said. 'They really won’t take that into consideration. They’re just going to look past it.'

He said his Hispanic colleagues were very supportive. 'They’ve been dealing with this for so long. Now we’re getting a taste of it, and we’re trying to find a way around it, or a way to just stand up against it,' Yazzie said.

They talked with him about what had happened, encouraging him not to let it bring him down and reminding him that what matters is that he was still there, that they were still there and that they were getting through it together.

As he promised, Yazzie called the families of the detainees he shared a cell with, in some cases pulling in a person who spoke Spanish to translate. Making the calls was 'heartbreaking,' he said – almost the same level of grief as when he recently had to call family members to report the death of his brother.

'As soon as you tell them, ‘Is this so-and-so’s family?’ they just know, and they start crying, asking ‘Have you seen him? Where is he?’' said Yazzie.

He said the only thing the detainees were concerned about was their families. Their stress, worry, sadness and anxiety were palpable.

'It was never about them. Every single time, every one of them said, ‘My family – my family, my kids, my wife,’' said Yazzie. 'These are grown men that been crying, that been praying.'

He continued, 'I just want to put them out there for some kind of prayer, or to be kept in people’s thoughts.'