Assembly of First Nations warns First Nations travellers to be cautious as ICE detains Indigenous people

The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) in Canada has urged First Nations people to be careful when travelling to the United States after immigration agents detained Indigenous travellers despite long‑standing cross‑border rights.

AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak confirmed at least one First Nations person recently had a “negative encounter” with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and has since returned to Canada. The AFN said the incident prompted a formal advisory telling First Nations citizens to ensure they carry the right identification and documentation at the border.

Those warnings come as the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) accuses ICE of racially profiling and unlawfully detaining Native Americans and others during recent operations. In a statement last week, NARF said ICE’s campaign of warrantless arrests, excessive force and racial profiling “must end now” and that Native Americans are among those being “abducted and detained” in ways that violate treaties and constitutional rights.

NARF executive director John Echohawk said the organisation is seeing Native Americans “illegally stopped, abused, or detained” by ICE agents, while deputy director Matthew Campbell described people being “illegally detained and brutalized based on the colour of their skin, their name, or their accent”. Tribal leaders in northern Michigan have issued their own advisories, with the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians condemning ICE activities that have created “fear, confusion, and anxiety” in Indigenous and minority communities.

The legal position is very different from the way these raids feel on the ground. Under the Jay Treaty of 1794 and US immigration law, Canadian‑born Indigenous people with at least 50 per cent Aboriginal ancestry have the right to cross the Canada–US border freely and to live and work in the United States without immigration restrictions. US‑born Native Americans are citizens by birth, and NARF and the American Civil Liberties Union stress that ICE cannot detain or deport them for immigration violations.

Despite those protections, Indigenous people whose Nations straddle the border report being stopped, questioned or detained while exercising everyday rights to visit family, attend ceremonies or work.

Canada’s 2021 Census counted about 1.8 million Indigenous people (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) making up 5 per cent of the national population and one of its youngest and fastest‑growing communities. In Australia, First Nations people number around 984,000, or 3.8 per cent of the population, with roughly one‑third under 15.