NM U.S. Sen. Luján, Rep. Leger Fernández sponsor bill to prevent ICE from detaining Native Americans

Two members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation introduced bipartisan legislation this week that aims to prevent federal immigration officials from questioning, detaining or arresting Native Americans amid President Donald Trump’s mass deportation push. 

U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján and U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, both New Mexico Democrats, are among four congressional sponsors of the “Respect Tribal IDs Act,” which would require the federal Department of Homeland Security to develop training for federal immigration officers on how to identify tribal identification documents and interact with enrolled tribal members. It would also require reminders of the federal government’s treaty obligations to federally recognized tribes.

“Under the Trump administration, we’ve seen disturbing incidents where Tribal members were stopped, questioned, and harassed by ICE officers simply because of their appearance or because officers failed to recognize their Tribal IDs,” Luján said in a statement Tuesday. “That is unacceptable and deeply wrong.”

In New Mexico, leaders of both the Mescalero Apache and Navajo reservations reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents questioned Indigenous residents about their citizenship within a week of President Donald Trump’s inauguration for his second term. 

Leger Fernández, in a letter to president Trump on Jan. 28, 2025, which was just eight days after he took office, noted that Native Americans received citizenship in 1924 and comprise “quintessentially American communities.” 

Larry Wright, executive director of National Congress of American Indians, said in a statement the bill “affirms the validity of Tribal governments and strengthens the federal trust responsibility.”

U.S. Reps. Sharice Davids (D-Kansas) and Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) are also co-sponsors. The bill will be heard first in the House Judiciary Committee, though a hearing data has not been set.