When ICE detained four homeless men who had been living under a bridge in Minneapolis, they took members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, according to the tribe’s president.
Executive summary
The Oglala Sioux Tribe’s president, Frank Star Comes Out, publicly stated that four homeless men living under a bridge in Minneapolis were detained by ICE and identified them as enrolled members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe [1]. Tribal officials and local reporting say three of the four were transferred to Fort Snelling and one was released, while the Department of Homeland Security/ICE issued statements saying they could not verify encounters with Oglala Sioux members, leaving the basic factual dispute unresolved in public records [1] [2].
1. The tribe’s claim: four detained, three held at Fort Snelling
Tribal leadership issued a memorandum and public statements asserting that four enrolled Oglala Lakota men who had been experiencing homelessness under a bridge near Little Earth in south Minneapolis were picked up during immigration enforcement actions and that three of those men were subsequently being held at the ICE facility in Fort Snelling, with one reportedly released after a short hold [1] [2] [3].
2. Federal response: DHS/ICE says it cannot corroborate the tribe’s account
Department of Homeland Security communications quoted in reporting said DHS had not been able to confirm that ICE had arrested or even encountered members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and reported no detainees claiming Oglala membership in their facilities — a direct contradiction to the tribe’s public claims and a central reason the story remains unresolved [2].
3. Independent and tribal reporting: multiple outlets relay the tribe’s version
Local and national outlets — including AP, ICT, Newsweek, Fox 9 and Minnesota outlets — reported the tribe’s allegations and repeated that tribal leaders were in Minneapolis seeking detained members, organizing legal support and demanding confirmation of identities, locations and legal status from federal authorities [1] [4] [5] [6] [7]. Several community advocates also reported encounters and arrests of Native people during the enforcement actions, adding context though not definitive identity corroboration [8].
4. Conflicting narratives and political context
The dispute has been amplified by rapid news cycles, partisan outlets and commentators: some conservative opinion sites have declared the tribe’s claims false based on the DHS statement, while tribal leaders and Indigenous advocates characterize federal secrecy and refusal to share detainee details without an “immigration agreement” as an obstruction of tribal rights and treaty obligations [9] [1] [4]. The controversy plays out against heightened tensions after related enforcement operations in Minneapolis and an ICE officer-involved shooting, which intensified scrutiny and protest activity [8].
5. Legal and sovereignty considerations the tribe raises
The Oglala Sioux Tribe cites federal law, treaties and the Indian Citizenship Act in asserting that enrolled tribal citizens are U.S. citizens and that ICE’s detention of enrolled members — if confirmed — would raise legal and treaty questions; the tribe has sought enrollment documentation to present to authorities and has demanded immediate confirmation and release, underscoring the sovereign-to-sovereign dimension of the dispute [1] [3].
6. What is known, what remains unverified, and why it matters
What is verifiable in public reporting is that the tribe’s president publicly asserted four enrolled members were detained in Minneapolis and that multiple outlets relayed that claim; DHS/ICE has publicly stated it cannot corroborate those arrests or encounters, creating a factual impasse [1] [2]. Reporting to date does not include independent, published confirmation of the detained men’s tribal enrollment by ICE or third-party records accessible to journalists, so the core factual question—whether ICE detained four enrolled Oglala Sioux members in Minneapolis—remains contested in public sources [2] [4].