On the morning of Dec. 5, 2025, ShyLynn Allen received a panicked phone call.
The father of her children, Jose Joaquin Sanchez Alvarado, was driving from his home in Meridian, Idaho, to pick up their 10-year-old son for school when he was suddenly surrounded by law enforcement.
“He called me from inside the car and he’s like, ‘I think they’re taking me … I’m pretty sure they’re detaining me,’” Allen said.
Allen is a member of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribe in Nevada and Idaho. Alvarado, who is undocumented and not a tribal member, came to the United States from Mexico when he was 11 years old. She says he has no criminal record and has spent years working to support their family.
“He doesn’t have a criminal record. I don’t even know why they’re really targeting him,” Allen said. “He’s a good person. He’s never been in trouble. All he does is work.”
Alvarado is being held in an ICE detention facility near Las Vegas.
The emotional impact has been heavy for their children.
“Now they don’t even want to go outside or do anything,” Allen said.
As immigration enforcement ramps up nationwide, that fear is being echoed across Indigenous communities. Despite being U.S. citizens and members of sovereign tribal nations, Native people are increasingly reporting encounters with immigration agents. And in some cases, they have been detained.
Last November, Elaine Miles, an Indigenous actor and enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, was questioned by ICE officers at a bus stop in Redmond, Washington.
In January, Peter Yazzie, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, was detained by ICE in Phoenix. Although Yazzie says he was carrying documentation identifying him as a Navajo Nation citizen, he was still forced to the ground, with knees placed on his back. He was eventually released.
Four unhoused members of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe were detained by ICE in Minneapolis. Tribal officials confirm that one individual has been released, while tribal attorneys continue efforts to locate the other three.
Crystalyne Curley, Speaker of the Navajo Nation Council, says tribal citizenship should never be questioned or challenged by anyone.
“We are the first peoples of the country,” Curley said.
The Navajo Nation Council recently passed legislation calling on ICE to formally recognize Navajo Nation identification documents. Many tribes across the country, including the Mescalero Apache in New Mexico, and Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone in Wyoming, are urging their citizens to carry tribal identification cards.
The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) has also seen growing concern. In January, the organization hosted a “Know Your Rights” webinar that drew more than a thousand attendees.
Beth Wright, a senior staff attorney at NARF and a member of the Pueblo of Laguna, says the organization has received outreach from tribal citizens nationwide.
“We’re getting a lot of outreach from folks all over the country,” Wright said. “There’s a lot of concern about what to do if tribal citizens are stopped by ICE and what their rights are in different encounters.”
She emphasized that there is no legal basis for deporting tribal citizens.
“I think one of the important messages to convey is that tribal citizens are citizens of the United States,” Wright said.
Still, many Native parents say they are not reassured that identification alone will protect their families.
Eva Flores, a member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe who lives in Caldwell, Idaho, says the current climate has created constant anxiety.
“It’s just a time of uncertainty, of fear,” Flores said. “Just knowing that you are a U.S. citizen, but yet your skin color has a lot to do with being stopped.”
She worries about her children’s safety even during routine activities.
“I fear for my kids to go out, even just to school or activities, not knowing if they’re coming home or if they’re going to be picked up,” she said.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said its agents are trained to determine a person’s immigration status and whether they are subject to removal.
The department also says its law enforcement officers rely on “reasonable suspicion” under the Fourth Amendment when making arrests, adding that the U.S. Supreme Court has recently upheld that standard.
As tribal leaders encourage their members to remain calm, parents like ShyLynn Allen are dedicated to protecting their children.
“We don’t need ICE on our street,” she said. “They’re only terrorizing brown people. It’s not doing any good.”
Families across Indian Country say they are bracing for continued uncertainty, even as they assert their rights as citizens and members of sovereign tribal nations.
