ICE Racial Profiling & Native People
During my visit to Phoenix in February, I spoke to members of the Native community. They were fearful of racial profiling, and many tribes responded by ensuring their members had the necessary documentation (tribal IDs or CDIB) and that they knew their rights when dealing with ICE agents. One shocking incident had been reported incident of a Nawas woman who ICE had detained at her workplace. It was only through a frantic exchange of text messages (before her cell phone was confiscated) that her mother and aunt were able to send her a photo of her CDIB card.
Only about 7,000 of the 400,000 Navajo citizens have tribal ID cards. These cards are notoriously difficult to obtain, a fact I learned from my cousins, who had to deal with difficult staff in Window Rock to obtain theirs. The dedicated Diné staff at the Phoenix Indian Center told me they were willing to host the Navajo Nation at an event to issue IDs to tribal members.