DHS secretary Noem issues letter to tribes, denies ICE targeting Native Americans
By AMELIA SCHAFER
ICT
RAPID CITY, South Dakota — In a letter addressed to tribal leaders and citizens of federally recognized tribes, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem denied claims of enrolled tribal citizens being detained by immigration officials and said to date, no ICE operations have occurred on tribal lands.
In Noem’s letter obtained by ICT, she calls the claims of the detainment of enrolled citizens of federally recognized tribes “false,” “misrepresenting facts and spreading misinformation.” The letter was sent out to tribal leaders on Feb. 12.
“Let me be unequivocal, ICE’s mission is singular and clear: to apprehend and remove individuals who are unlawfully present in the United States,” Noem said in the letter. “ICE does not target, and will not target, Native Americans or any U.S. citizens based on appearance, ethnicity, or community affiliation. To date, there have not been any ICE operations in tribal lands.”
ICT has collected accounts of several Native people being detained by ICE with documentation. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Red Lake Nation have both issued public notices saying tribal enrolled citizens were detained by immigration officials in Minneapolis. Standing Rock noted one tribal citizen’s detainment, while Red Lake noted three detainments of enrolled citizens.
Peter Yazzie, a Navajo Nation citizen, was caught on video being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Arizona on his way to work in mid-January. Yazzie told ABC15 that he was detained despite showing documentation of his Certificate of Indian Blood document, drivers license and birth certificate. The Navajo Nation confirmed the incident and responded on Jan. 16 by calling for increased communication and accountability from ICE.
“Federal agencies must ensure their agents are properly trained to recognize tribal identification and to respect the civil and constitutional rights of Native people,” said Buu Nygren, President of the Navajo Nation in a statement then.
Just outside Minneapolis in January, Red Lake Nation descendant Jose Ramirez was detained by ICE. Ramirez’s aunt recorded him on Facebook live being dragged out of her vehicle by agents. He was taken to the Bishop Henry Whipple Building for further processing and released 6 and a half hours later.
During historic immigration raids across the country, particularly in Minnesota, tribal leaders and Native people have voiced concerns regarding the detainment of tribal descendants and enrolled citizens.
The Red Lake Nation in Minnesota voted to pass a resolution restricting ICE from its lands in late January.
In South Dakota, several Oceti Sakowin (Lakota, Dakota, Nakoda) tribes have recently banned ICE from their tribal lands in response to community members’ fears. These same tribes banned Noem from their tribal lands in 2024 while she served as governor of South Dakota, in response to multiple derogatory statements made towards tribal leaders and families.
However, some tribes have entered into 287g contracts with the Homeland Security department allowing for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to delegate state and local law enforcement personnel the authority to perform specified immigration officer functions under ICE’s direction.
“I’ve heard of tribes that that do have cartel presences on their land because there’s such large land bases and are welcoming those type agreements,” J. Garrett Renville, chairman of the Coalition of Large Tribes and Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, told ICT. “It’s probably more controversial to even enter into those type of agreements, but essentially it does keep ICE activity away… and it delegates that authority to the local law enforcement to carry out.”
Prior to the Noem’s letter, Renville spoke with ICT about what he’s been hearing from Coalition of Large Tribes members and Sisseton Wahpeton citizens. Coalition of Large Tribes is a membership group of the tribes with large landbases.
“Each tribal leader and tribal councils have their own way of approaching these type of things,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to go about it at this point because ultimately we’re all still here. And so those are the types of things I think each individual tribe has to take into consideration on the type of actions that they want to take to keep their people safe. So I respect that.”
As for the legality of banning ICE from tribal lands, Renville said his understanding is that ultimately if immigration officials have a signed, federal judicial warrant, they can come onto tribal lands to serve out that warrant.
“Sisseton, our interactions with our federal partners have been more along the lines of cooperation and acknowledgement,” he said. “For instance, we had a federal warrant come down this past summer. So instead of the FBI coming to serve that warrant, they contacted our local law enforcement and we said we’ll serve the warrant and we’ll hand them over.
So Sisseton has that kind of interactions with our federal partners and even with our State.”
In the Feb. 12 letter, Noem said when reviewing the Congressional Record from the Biden administration era, she found records of tribal leaders testifying to cartel and cartel affiliates operating on tribal lands and requests by leaders for government assistance in cartel removal.
“I was disappointed when some of those same leaders took tribal council action to ban ICE from your reservations, making false claims that tribal members have been detained by ICE, misrepresenting facts and spreading misinformation,” she stated in the Feb. 12 letter. “Please don’t turn away the very help you asked for from your testimony to different Congressional Committees just a few years ago.”
Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out was unavailable for a comment on the letter. The letter was sent to the tribe’s lawyers.
Tribes in the southwestern United States and California have noted cartel presence, as discussed during a June 2023 House Committee on Natural Resources hearing regarding cartel impacts on tribal land.
During a June 4, 2023 testimony, John Nores, a retired game warden Lieutenant of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, noted cartel presence or impact on Northern California’s Hoopa Valley and Yurok tribes.
“Given an estimated hundreds of thousands of cartel operatives that have infiltrated reservations across the American West, and the extremely limited number of tribal enforcement personnel responsible for covering massive territories, tribal police forces cannot effectively combat this problem alone,” Nores said.
Noem continued, saying under President Donald Trump, immigration control seeks to do what the last administration “failed to do,” which she said is a lack of law enforcement and removal of violent undocumented immigrants.
“My senior advisor on Indian affairs and Intergovernmental Affairs teams is always available to take your call and answer your questions,” she said before ending the letter. “I look forward to your continued partnership.”
David Flute, Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota, is the Department of Homeland Security’s senior advisor on Indian affairs. Flute previously served as Noem’s secretary of tribal relations in South Dakota while governor of the state.
IHS to phase out mercury in dental fillings
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The federal agency that provides health care to Native Americans and Alaska Natives has announced it will phase out the use of dental fillings containing mercury.
The Indian Health Service has used fillings, known as dental amalgams, that contain elemental mercury to treat decayed and otherwise damaged teeth for decades. Native American rights and industry advocates have called for an end to the practice, arguing it exposes patients who may not have access to private dentistry to a harmful neurotoxin.
The use of mercury-containing amalgams, also known as “silver fillings” due to their appearance, has declined sharply since 2009 when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reclassified the devices from low to moderate risk. The industry has largely abandoned them in favor of plastic resin alternatives, which are also preferred for aesthetic reasons.
The Indian Health Service says it will fully implement the move to mercury-free alternatives by 2027. Already, the percentage of the Indian Health Service's roughly 2.8 million patient user population receiving them has declined from 12% in 2005 to 2% in 2023, the latest year of available data, agency documents show.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees IHS, said growing environmental and health concerns about mercury exposure, and global efforts to reduce materials containing the hazardous heavy metal prompted the change announced this month.
“This is a commonsense step that protects patients and prevents harm before it starts,” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said in a statement.
The agency's switch to mercury-free alternatives also upholds legal responsibilities the U.S. government has to the 575 federally recognized tribes, he said.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, dental amalgam fillings can release small amounts of mercury vapor during placement, removal, teeth grinding and gum chewing. It recommends that certain people at high risk for adverse effects of mercury exposure, including pregnant women, children under 6, and those with existing neurological conditions avoid the fillings. But the administration, along with the American Dental Association, says available evidence does not link mercury-containing fillings to long-term negative health outcomes.
The World Health Organization has created a plan to encourage countries around the world to phase out the use of dental amalgams, citing potential for mercury exposure. In 2013 several countries, including the U.S., signed onto the Minamata Convention, a global agreement targeting the adverse health and the environment effects of mercury. In November, signatories to the convention agreed to phase out the use of mercury-containing dental amalgams by the year 2034.
While Kennedy’s decision to stop its use within the IHS by 2027 puts the U.S. ahead of the global schedule, the country is still behind many other developed nations that have already banned the practice.
“The rest of the world is light years ahead of us,” said Rochelle Diver, the U.N. environmental treaties coordinator for the International Indian Treaty Council, adding that IHS patients should not receive treatment that is considered antiquated by many dentists.
In a statement, the American Dental Association acknowledged declining use of mercury-containing fillings, but said they remain a “safe, durable and affordable material.”
The use of mercury in other medical devices, including thermometers and blood pressure devices, has also declined sharply in recent decades. While mercury-containing amalgams have fallen out of favor in the U.S. private dental sector, patients relying on government services may not have a say, according to Charles G. Brown, president of the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry.
Many state-administered Medicaid programs continue to cover mercury-containing fillings as a treatment for tooth decay, Brown said.
“If you’re on Medicaid, if you are stuck in the Indian Health Service, if you were stuck in a prison or other institution, you just don’t have any choice,” Brown said.
