ICE Discovers Indigenous Land, 500 Years Later
Newsweek reports that Native American tribes are raising alarms about ICE freely operating on their sovereign reservations, sometimes without consultation or consent. The implication is a recent overreach. Yet, the US government has a long, illustrious history of disregarding Indigenous sovereignty, treaty obligations, and basic human dignity—from the Trail of Tears to Wounded Knee to today's
border militarization, which frequently bisects tribal lands. This isn't a glitch; it's a feature of colonial policy. One might wonder if the concern for 'sovereignty' selectively applies. When it’s Indigenous nations, it's a 'problem to be discussed.' When it's the US-Mexico border, often a fence through sovereign tribal territory (like Tohono O'odham Nation), it's 'national security.' Hypocrisy
isn't a bug; it's the operating system. The land was never 'discovered,' and its borders are still being contested by the very agencies who forget their own history.