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The Red Lake Nation tribal council has passed a resolution on a vote of 10-0 that prohibits U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal immigration agents from entering Red Lake tribal lands, unless the agents have a court order signed by a federal judge. 

There have been no reports of ICE agents on Red Lake’s reservation. The tribe’s reservation is located 30 miles north of Bemidji.

The resolution was passed in mid-January approximately a week after ICE agent Johnathan Ross shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Macklin Good, an observer and protester, in her car.

The resolution stated concerns over ICE agents stopping and arresting Native Americans in the northwest part of the state.

The resolution requires ICE agents to obtain a warrant and meet with the tribe's public safety director before coming onto the Red Lake reservation, and it goes on to state that an ICE agent must also be accompanied by a tribal public safety officer when on tribal land.

Red Lake Nation legal director Joe Plumer said he plans to send the resolution to be posted at the Red Lake Nation Embassy and the Mino-Bimaadiziwin apartment complex owned by the tribe in south Minneapolis, effectively prohibiting ICE agents from entering onto the properties. 

The resolution also prohibits ICE from fishing on those portions of Lower and Upper Red Lake within the reservation boundaries. Plumer said that an incident involving a pipeline worker who fished illegally on Lower Red Lake several years ago prompted tribal officials to add the provision. Plumer said tribal officials are concerned that non-tribal members are “largely unaware of the tribe’s laws and regulations.”

Red Lake Nation is the only closed reservation in the state. The 800,000-plus acre reservation is exempt from a federal law which allows some states, including Minnesota, to exercise concurrent jurisdiction on tribal lands. 

A separate letter from Red Lake chair Darrell Seki Sr., sent to Democratic members of Minnesota’s Congressional delegation, urged lawmakers to work to end ICE operations in Minnesota, saying tribal officials had been “informed that federal officers will soon turn their sites north, and that we are preparing our members at Red Lake for the likelihood of having to deal with this mayhem firsthand.”

Native News

The latest on ICE in Minnesota

Melissa Olson

Author

The Red Lake Nation tribal council has unanimously passed a resolution that restricts federal immigration agents from entering Red Lake tribal lands.

Red Lake Nation leaders pass resolution restricting ICE entry onto tribal lands

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