Tribal leader walks back claims DHS isn't cooperating with search for members thought detained

Susan Du, Star Tribune on Jan 16, 2026

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Oglala Sioux Tribe has walked back earlier claims that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been uncooperative with the tribe’s efforts to locate homeless tribal members it previously said were detained in Minneapolis earlier this month.

The tribe said it is still trying to verify the claims of its members being detained; the DHS said it has been unable to locate any such people.

The development comes after the DHS objected to the characterization that it had applied pressure on the tribe to enter into an immigration agreement with ICE as a prerequisite for obtaining information about any detained members.

“ICE did NOT ask the tribe for any kind of agreement, we have simply asked for basic information on the individuals, such as names and date of birth so that we can run a proper check to provide them with the facts,” DHS told the Minnesota Star Tribune in a statement.

In a memo sent Thursday to the Department of the Interior, Department of Homeland Security and Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Oglala Sioux Tribe agreed it was not accurate to suggest that federal officials would only provide information about detained tribal citizens if the tribe entered into an immigration enforcement agreement.

Rather, federal officials informed the tribe that an immigration agreement was one avenue for the tribe to access information more smoothly, according to the memo. Nevertheless, the Oglala Sioux Tribe does not intend to sign on to an agreement because of its treaty-based, nation-to-nation relationship with the United States, the memo states.

“We will not enter an agreement that would authorize, or make it easier for ICE or Homeland Security to come onto our tribal homeland to arrest or detain our tribal members,” tribal President Frank Star Comes Out said in the memo, which clarifies a previous memo accusing ICE of detaining tribal members.

The tribe is still working with federal and state officials to verify reports of tribal members detained by ICE, the memo read.

Oglala Sioux tribal authorities have not returned the Star Tribune’s calls for interviews.

DHS has questioned the claims of tribal members being detained.

“We have not been able to verify any claims that DHS law enforcement arrested or even encountered members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe,” DHS said in a statement. “Additionally, we have not uncovered any claims by individuals in our detention centers that they are members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.”

On Jan. 8, Star Comes Out posted a statement on social media that he had learned about four Oglala Sioux members detained under a bridge in south Minneapolis. On Jan. 13, the tribe issued a legal memo about the claimed “illegal detention” of the men and a news release detailing its efforts to verify the claim.

The tribe said on Jan. 13 it had been informed of the first names of four enrolled members who were detained, and that while one of them had been released, the remaining tribal citizens were reportedly taken to the ICE Detention Center at Fort Snelling.

Earlier this week, Oglala Sioux tribal spokesperson Valerie Adams told the Star Tribune that she did not know the location of the tribal member who, according to the tribe’s initial claim, has been released.

This wouldn’t be the only instance where Native Americans were targeted by ICE. Last week, agents detained a Red Lake descendant, 20-year-old Jose Roberto Ramirez, after pulling him out of a car at the Robbinsdale Hy-Vee. Ramirez was released after his mother, a Red Lake tribal member, provided his birth certificate.

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