Native Americans say tribal members harassed by immigration agents
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Native American tribes have reported that federal immigration agents are harassing tribal members, with others expressing concern about being wrongfully caught in immigration raids.
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President Donald Trump holds the document after signing the Laken Riley Act during an event in the East Room of the White House, on January 29, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
Native Americans and Democratic lawmakers on Friday accused ICE agents of harassing tribal members during Trump's ordered immigration crackdown.
Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren described "traumatizing" encounters with ICE, while US Democrats urged Trump to end the agency's focus on Native Americans in immigration raids.
In a letter to Trump on Wednesday, nine Democrats, led by New Mexico Representative Teresa Leger Fernandez, said, "ICE's dangerous behavior of harassing American citizens, seemingly only due to the way they look, is unconstitutional and un-American."
Lawmakers referenced a January 22 incident reported by the Mescalero Apache tribe, where an ICE agent stopped a tribal member at a convenience store in Ruidoso, New Mexico, and demanded proof of US citizenship.
Read next: Trump says will deport migrants using local police if elected
Head of the United States' largest Native American reservation, Nygren, is among Indigenous leaders urging members to proactively carry state-issued identification cards and their Certificate of Indian Blood, an official US document certifying a person has Native American ancestry.
After taking office on January 20, Trump issued several executive orders aimed at tightening control on illegal immigration.
In a statement last week, Nygren said, "My office has received multiple reports from Navajo citizens that they have had negative, and sometimes traumatizing, experiences with federal agents targeting undocumented immigrants."
US military deportation flights likely cost more than first-class
On another note, Trump's military deportation flight to Guatemala on Monday is estimated to have cost at least $4,675 per migrant, based on data from US and Guatemalan officials.
The cost of the military deportation flight, at $4,675 per migrant, is over five times the $853 price of a one-way first-class ticket on American Airlines from El Paso, Texas, the flight's departure point, according to a review of public airfares.
The cost is also significantly higher than that of a commercial charter flight operated by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Read next: Petro rejects US deportation military flights, Trump slaps sanctions
Last week, Trump allowed military deportation flights as part of his national emergency declaration on immigration, sending six planeloads of migrants to Latin America. However, only four flights have landed, all in Guatemala, after Colombia denied US C-17 cargo aircraft permission to land and instead sent its planes to collect migrants following a standoff with Trump.
A US official told Reuters that operating a C-17 military transport aircraft costs an estimated $28,500 per hour. The flight to and from Guatemala, excluding time on the ground and preparation for takeoff, took approximately 10.5 hours.
A Guatemalan official told Reuters the military transport plane landed on Monday with 64 people on board.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
