ICE Goons Try to Thwart ID Verification

In an outrageous incident in Seattle ICE agents attempted to round up an Amerindian actress who was on an errand and dismissed her Tribal ID, which is a federally-recognized means of identification.

This isn't surprising, given that the same set of thugs have done worse, including unlawfully detaining other persons known to them to be American citizens.

The description of the incident as it occurred should anger you:

Elaine Miles was walking to a bus stop in Redmond to go to Target, she said, when four men wearing masks and vests with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement label stepped out of two black SUVs with no front plates and pressed her for her ID.

Miles, an Indigenous actor best known for her roles in Northern Exposure, Smoke Signals, Wyvern and The Last of Us, handed them her tribal ID from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon.

Federal government agencies recognize tribal ID as a valid form of identification, and Miles has used it to travel back and forth to Canada and Mexico without any issues.

Yet, Miles recalled one agent calling it "fake."

Later:

Miles said the men, whom she worried could have been bounty hunters, did not identify themselves when she asked for their names and badge numbers while they detained her at a bus stop by the shopping center.

When the men did not believe Miles' tribal ID, she pointed to a phone number for the Umatilla Tribal enrollment office on the back of the card.

"Call it," she said.

When they didn't, she took out her phone to call the office herself, but the agents tried unsuccessfully to take her phone, she said. That's when a fifth agent in the SUV whistled over, and the agents went back to their vehicles and left.

This in no way resembles the country I love.

Miles was clearly stopped on the basis of her appearance (as if Americans all look alike), presumed to be a criminal, and then harassed while attempting to clear her name. Could someone please explain to me what this mistreatment of an older woman is supposed to accomplish?

Even if we stretched ourselves to the limits to plead that this was due to incompetence, the number of other similar incidents is alarming.

If I were President and honestly believed I needed to deport "illegal" immigrants (I don't.), I would place a moratorium on the raids and random stops until the agents (who would not be masked) were trained in due process, how to identify American citizens, and other matters related to basic law enforcement.

That the current occupant of the White House doesn't seem to give a damn about this situation should bother everyone, especially American citizens.

-- CAV