Navajo alarmed by reports of Indigenous people caught up in Trump immigration raids Group takes steps to protect members after ‘traumatizing’ reports of people being stopped or detained by agents.
The Navajo nation is taking steps to protect its community from federal immigration actions, amid reports that some Indigenous Americans have been swept up in US deportation raids being carried out early in Donald Trump’s second presidency.
That came alongside reports of at least 15 Indigenous people in Arizona and New Mexico having reported being stopped at their homes and workplaces, questioned or detained by federal law enforcement and asked to produce proof of citizenship during immigration raids that began last week.
In a statement, the Navajo nation president, Buu Nygren, said his office in Window Rock, Arizona, had received reports that tribal members had had “negative, and sometimes traumatizing, experiences with federal agents targeting undocumented immigrants in the south-west”.
The Navajo nation council speaker, Crystalyne Curley, told CNN the number of Navajo or members of other Indigenous tribal groups that had been swept up in actions was unclear – or which federal agencies were involved.
