Indigenous actor says ICE agents branded her tribal ID ‘fake’ during stop – UK Times

Native American actress Elaine Miles, best known for her roles on Northern Exposure and in Smoke Signals, says she was detained recently by ICE agents, who reportedly told her that her tribal ID, issued in Oregon, was “fake.”

In a social media post, Miles claimed she was walking to a bus stop near the Redmond Bear Creek Village shopping center in Washington, to go to Target, when four masked men in ICE-labeled vests emerged from two unmarked black SUVs and demanded her ID, The Seattle Times reports.

She presented her ID from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon, which one agent allegedly said was “fake.”

“Anyone can make that,” another agent said, according to Miles.

Miles continued that the men, whom she feared might even be bounty hunters, refused to give their names or badge numbers as they detained her.

When they dismissed her tribal ID as illegitimate, she pointed to the enrollment office number printed on the back and told them to call. They didn’t. When she tried to call the office herself, the agents attempted, unsuccessfully, to take her phone.

At that point, a fifth agent whistled from one of the SUVs, and the group abruptly returned to their vehicles and drove off.

The Independent has contacted ICE for comment.

On November 4, KING 5 reported that ICE made recent arrests in Redmond and Issaquah.

The agency’s regional director set a new goal of 30 daily arrests across Oregon, Washington, and Alaska, double the 2024 target, according to the outlet.

Miles’ post coincided with ICE arrests at Bear Creek Village. The incidents prompted the city council to vote to shut off Flock Safety license-plate cameras over concerns they could be used in future immigration enforcement, though there’s no evidence they were used in these arrests, according to The Seattle Times.

Miles said the incident wasn’t isolated within her own family. Both her son and her uncle, she said, were previously detained by ICE agents who also questioned the legitimacy of their tribal IDs before ultimately releasing them.

According to the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, the CTUIR is made up of three tribal nations: the Umatilla, Cayuse, and Walla Walla. Together, they form a unified tribal government that continues to maintain and protect their shared cultural and political sovereignty.

In 1855, these three tribes signed a treaty with the US, ceding roughly 6.4 million acres of their ancestral homelands in what is now northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington.

Today, the CTUIR includes several thousand enrolled citizens, with recent documentation estimating the membership at around 3,100 people. Nearly half of those members live on or near the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

The reservation is home not only to CTUIR citizens but also to other Native people from different tribes, as well as non-Native residents.