False ICE Claim at Powwow Shows Why Native Journalism Matters

A video circulating widely on social media sparked concern among Native Americans this week after a man was recorded confronting law enforcement officers at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community’s Wacipi, or powwow, and claiming that nine Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were at the cultural gathering. 

The video was an attention getter. The man was yelling profanities and pointing his finger at the law enforcement officers. One message circulating with the video declared: “There is absolutely no reason ICE should ever be at a powwow.”

That message is understandable. But Native News Online found no evidence that ICE agents attended the Wacipi. 

Native News Online contacted SMSC tribal law enforcement department, which said it had no knowledge of ICE agents being present. We also contacted the tribe’s communication department, which provided a statement from the SMSC Business Council.

The statement explained that the individuals accused of being ICE agents were actually military service members who attended the Wacipi “to learn about the tribe and its culture because they have Native Americans in their unit.”

The tribe also explained that the officers shown in the video were SMSC Conservation officers, SMSC Security personnel and a local police liaison working to ensure the safety of attendees.

In other words, the available evidence didn’t support the ICE allegation spreading across social media. 

This is exactly why journalism matters.

Journalism is not simply repeating two sides of a story and leaving readers to decide what is true. If one person tells us it is raining and another says the sun is shining, our job is to look out the window.

Almost anyone with a cellphone can publish a claim to thousands — or millions — of people within minutes. Native journalists have a responsibility to separate what people believe happened from what the evidence shows actually happened.

That responsibility matters most when a claim seems plausible.

Misinformation can influence elections

Elections depend on voters having accurate information. Voters need to know what candidates have said, what they have done, where they stand on issues and what policies they actually support.

Misinformation can distort all of that.

A false claim about a candidate can spread across social media long before a journalist has an opportunity to investigate it. Political ads can contain misleading claims. A misleading video can be stripped of its context and presented as fact. An old photograph can be circulated as if it depicts something that happened yesterday.

And once misinformation spreads, correcting it can be extremely difficult.

This is particularly important in Indian Country because Native voters are often deciding not only which candidate they prefer, but who will represent their interests on issues involving tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, federal funding, the Indian Health Service, education, housing, sacred lands and the federal trust responsibility.

A false claim can change how people vote.

That is why Native journalism has a responsibility to provide voters with facts—not propaganda, rumors or partisan talking points.

Verification matters

The Shakopee incident occurred against a backdrop of months of fear and mistrust surrounding federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota.

The Shakopee Wacipi grounds are about 30 miles from Minneapolis, which earlier this year became the epicenter of a large federal immigration enforcement operation. In January, thousands of federal officers were deployed to Minnesota as part of Operation Metro Surge.

Two U.S. citizens were killed in separate confrontations involving federal immigration authorities. On Jan. 7, ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and mother of three, in Minneapolis. Seventeen days later, Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and intensive care nurse who worked at the Minneapolis VA, was fatally shot by Customs and Border Protection officers during another immigration enforcement confrontation.

The shootings involved different federal agencies, but both fueled anger and distrust surrounding the federal immigration operation.

The shootings involved different federal agencies, but both fueled anger and distrust surrounding the federal immigration operation.

The Native community, which numbers approximately 35,000 in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area, mobilized after the killings to protect one another. Patrol units traveled by car and on foot, using whistles to move through the streets of the Twin Cities and alert residents to the presence of ICE agents or Border Patrol. 

That history helps explain why a video claiming ICE agents had entered a Native cultural gathering could spread so quickly.

The fear was understandable.

The claim was believable. 

But understandable fear does not make an unverified claim true.

Powwows are important community gatherings where Native people dance, sing, honor veterans, visit relatives and celebrate cultures that generations before us fought to preserve.

The idea that federal immigration agents had entered such a gathering would naturally alarm people.

That is precisely why the claim needed to be verified.

Native News Online did not simply repeat what was circulating on social media. We contacted tribal law enforcement. We contacted the tribe’s communications department. We sought information from the people responsible for public safety at the event.

The information we obtained did not support the allegation that ICE agents were there. That is not complicated journalism. But it is necessary journalism. 

Native media has a special responsibility

Native media has an especially important role because mainstream media does not always understand the distinctions among tribal nations, tribal governments, Native communities and federal agencies.

I have attended hundreds of powwows during my years as a Native journalist. Native journalists spend time in the communities we cover. We attend powwows and tribal council meetings. We report on tribal governments, sovereignty and treaty rights. We know that tribal police departments and other tribal public safety agencies are not the same as federal law enforcement.

That knowledge matters. It gives us context to understand why the presence of ICE agents at a powwow would immediately raise concerns — and it helps us know what questions to ask and who to call to determine whether they were actually there.

That does not mean Native journalists should automatically accept everything a tribal government says. Tribal governments, like all governments, should be subject to scrutiny.

It means we bring knowledge of Native communities and tribal institutions to our reporting — and with that knowledge comes a responsibility to get the story right.

Sometimes the most important story we can tell is simply this: That did not happen. Here is what actually happened.

Thayék gde nwéndëmen – We are all related. 

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