MINNEAPOLIS (TNND) — The president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe is calling on federal authorities to immediately release tribal citizens who were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement during an operation at a Minneapolis homeless encampment last week.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out said three of four tribal members arrested Friday were transferred to an ICE detention facility at Fort Snelling. The statement accompanied a formal memorandum sent to federal immigration officials demanding their release.

Star Comes Out emphasized that tribal citizens are not subject to immigration enforcement, noting that they hold U.S. citizenship by law and citizenship within their tribal nation by treaty. “Tribal citizens are not aliens and fall completely outside immigration jurisdiction,” he said.

Officials have not provided clear details about why the men were detained. According to Star Comes Out, when the tribe contacted the Department of Homeland Security seeking information, the agency shared only the first names of the detainees and declined to release additional details unless the tribe agreed to enter into a formal immigration enforcement agreement with ICE.

The tribe has no intention of entering such an agreement, Star Comes Out said.

In a post on social media, Star Comes Out said the four detained tribal members were experiencing homelessness and had been living beneath a bridge in Minneapolis. One of the four has since been released.

In his statement, Star Comes Out demanded immediate information about the status of the remaining detainees, the release of all tribal citizens held by ICE, and a direct meeting between tribal leadership and federal officials.

Fort Snelling, where the men are being held, has a painful history for Indigenous communities. Nick Estes, an associate professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota and a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, noted that the site once served as a military outpost where Dakota people were imprisoned during the Dakota War of 1862.

“It has a deeply troubling anti-Indigenous history, particularly toward the Dakota,” Estes said, describing the ICE facility as a continuation of state violence rooted in that past.

The incident is not isolated. In recent months, tribal leaders across the country have raised concerns about ICE detaining Indigenous people. Last year, officials with the Navajo Nation said tribal citizens in Arizona and New Mexico reported being stopped by ICE agents. In November, a member of Arizona’s Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community was nearly deported after being mistakenly flagged following an arrest in Iowa.

That same month, actress Elaine Miles, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, said ICE officers in Washington state questioned the authenticity of her tribal identification.

In response to growing concerns, Indigenous rights organizations and the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians have helped establish locations in Minneapolis where tribal members can obtain tribal identification cards to carry if questioned by immigration authorities.

Mary LaGarde, executive director of the Minneapolis American Indian Center, said many Indigenous people now feel compelled to keep their IDs readily visible. “I never thought I’d wear my tribal ID around my neck, but I do,” she said. “It’s important to have proper identification and to stay calm.”