Raids and land rights: Indigenous people affected by Trump’s decrees…on immigration

Executive orders signed by Donald Trump targeting illegal immigrants are beginning to have an impact on the country’s indigenous nations. Some report that their members are being targeted by immigration agency raids, and the administration appears to want to call into question the land rights of America’s first peoples.

Navajo citizens and officials report serious concerns about raids by agentsImmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Arizona, New Mexico and Utahunderlines a press release published by the Naabik’íyáti’ committee, an important legislative body of the nation.

These raids raise fear, particularly for members who live in urban areas and who have difficulty obtaining identity documentation.

The situation is not necessarily easier for people who have in their possession identity documents that prove their belonging to their nation and their American citizenship.

Despite possessing Certificates of Indian Blood and state-issued identification, several individuals have been detained and questioned by immigration officials who do not recognize these documents as proof of citizenship

The chair of the committee, Crystalyne Curleycalls on the President of the Navajo Nation and the executive to put in place emergency measures to measure the extent of the situation. The Naabik’íyáti’ committee, for its part, intends to adopt emergency legislative measures to help those targeted by the raids and quickly provide identification documents to Navajos who need them.

The President of the Mescalero Apache Tribal Council [l’emploi des termes tribu et Indien est largement accepté aux États-Unis, notamment par les nations elles-mêmes, NDLR]in New Mexico, also published a letter to its members on the raids ofICE. Thora Walsh-Padilla explains that the tribal administration has only confirmed one incident so far, but takes the risks very seriously.

To stay safe, be alert, tell your loved ones where you are and have your identification with you at all times. If possible, make sure you have several different documents (driver’s license, state issued card, tribal ID card, Certificate of Indian Blood, etc.)she lists.

Take away land rights from Indigenous people?

Another of the president’s many executive orders affects soil law: it would prohibit the federal government from issuing passports, certificates of citizenship or other documents to children whose mother is in the United States illegally or temporarily and whose father is not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.

The decree is being challenged in court, but the American government’s defense in the case suggests that under the decree, Indigenous people could also be deprived of land rights.

Trump administration lawyers rely on terms used in the Civil Rights Acts of 1866. It is indicated there that all persons born in the United States and not subjects of a foreign power, excluding non-taxed Indians, are now American citizens.

They only go up on the 14th^e amendment – ​​passed in 1868 and which grants citizenship to anyone born or naturalized in the United States – only applies to people who are subject to [la] United States jurisdiction.

Government lawyers then lined up behind a Supreme Court ruling, Elk v. Wilkins in 1884. The Court held that because members of Indian tribes owe their “immediate allegiance” to their tribe, they are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and are not constitutionally entitled to citizenship. [par le droit de sol]they write.

In the United States, Indigenous people were granted full citizenship in 1924, thanks toIndian Citizenship Act. It is the last segment of the American population to enjoy citizenship as a birthright.

With information from Ismaël Houdassine and the AFP