{"id":438565,"date":"2026-02-23T11:47:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T17:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=438565"},"modified":"2026-03-03T13:49:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T19:49:01","slug":"cronkite-news-tribal-and-american-citizens-caught-up-in-anti-immigration-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2026\/02\/23\/cronkite-news-tribal-and-american-citizens-caught-up-in-anti-immigration-agenda\/","title":{"rendered":"Cronkite News: Tribal and American citizens caught up in anti-immigration agenda"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Kristi<\/a>
United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem during a press conference at the Mexico-United States border wall on Wednesday, February 4, 2026, in Nogales, Arizona. Photo by Matthew Marengo \/ Cronkite News<\/figcaption>\r\n
They\u2019re not saying please anymore: Arizonans are carrying more documents to prove citizenship to avoid detention<\/div>\r\n
Monday, February 23, 2026<\/div>\r\n
By Dermont Stevenson<\/div>\r\n
Cronkite News<\/DIV>\r\n
cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

PHOENIX — Every morning, Raul Pi\u00f1a wakes up before dawn to take his Rottweiler, Beau, out for a walk near his home in Buckeye. He has a routine. He gets dressed and gathers Beau\u2019s equipment. He kneels down to clip in Beau\u2019s leash and puts on his shoes. Then he heads out. He opens the door and the cool 5 a.m. air enters his home.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

But recently something has changed. Before he steps outside, Pi\u00f1a needs to remind himself to bring something extra that he never worried about before \u2013 his passport card and ID.<\/p>\r\n

Pi\u00f1a\u2019s one of many people in Arizona\u00a0 \u2013 many of them American citizens \u2013 who have added a new element to their daily routine: carrying additional forms of identification.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a new practice,\u201d Pi\u00f1a, a U.S. citizen, said. \u201cIt’s just as I’m walking out, and it’s something to think about now, right? Do I have a flashlight, do I have my wallet, do I have my phone? It\u2019s a mental checklist.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The Trump administration\u2019s immigration enforcement campaign has led many Arizonans to being more vigilant about the identification they carry everyday.<\/p>\r\n

Reports<\/a> of Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence increasing in Phoenix has increased fear in the state.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Pi\u00f1a, an Air Force veteran, said his new practice started when he noticed more workplace immigration raids and ICE detaining U.S. citizens.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an odd feeling to carry your passport,\u201d Pi\u00f1a said. \u201cAnd where does it stop? Do I need to carry my DD-214?\u201d<\/p>\r\n \r\n

Officially known as DD Form 214, \u00a0a DD-214 is a formal document<\/a> issued by the Department of Defense official when a service member retires, leaves, or is discharged from active duty.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

The increased federal presence has brought troubling memories to the surface for Pi\u00f1a, particularly of life under former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Arpaio tried to enforce and championed State Bill 1070<\/a>, known as the \u201cSupport Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act,\u201d Arizona\u2019s controversial \u201cpapers, please\u201d law, authorizing law enforcement to ask for identification from anyone they had reasonable suspicion of being in the country without legal status. Much of it was blocked by the Supreme Court, but the justices in a 5-3 decision (Justice Elena Kagan was recused in the case) in Arizona v. United States declined to strike down 2(B) \u2013 known as the \u201cshow me your papers\u201d provision, but with limitations.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

But it did strike down parts of the law that made it illegal to not carry registration papers, allow warrantless arrests based on whether the officer thought someone was deportable, and to seek work without authorization.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

In September 2025, in the case of Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo <\/a>\u00a0the Supreme Court issued a stay of a lower court order that allowed federal immigration agents to, in part, to racially and ethnically profile as grounds for immigration stops. It cleared the way for ICE agents to execute \u201cKavanaugh stops\u201d <\/a>to use factors such as race, Spanish and other language use and employment to detain individuals for questioning. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in his concurrence that \u201capparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion,\u201d but that it could be a \u201crelevant factor.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Advocates like Pi\u00f1a and other people around the Valley and the state are worried about what might happen if they fit the profile.Pi\u00f1a is also a Community Advisory Board member in the Melendres v. Maricopa County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/a> case. The class action lawsuit was filed against Arpaio and the office in 2007 over racial profiling and unlawful traffic stops of Latinos. A judge found Arpaio guilty of criminal contempt in 2017. The case has gone through a number of appeals and remains mired in contentious efforts to meet compliance with a federal court.<\/p>\r\n

The Trump administration pardoned the ex-sheriff<\/a> within two months.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou would hope that the Melendres case would be one of the vehicles to remove those practices from law enforcement, definitely, to bring it to an end in Maricopa County, right,\u201d Pi\u00f1a said. \u201cI think that was the hope at the time, that we never see this thing again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Pi\u00f1a and other advocates said they made a bad miscalculation.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt looks like the opposite has happened,\u201d he said. \u201cThese strategies, these tactics have spread to other areas, all over the country now.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Cronkite News reached out to city of Phoenix officials and ICE, but they did not respond to requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Advocates said SB 1070-style tactics still in place in Arizona today. They point to a recent raid on 16 restaurants<\/a> in the Valley, led by Homeland Security Investigations, which left residents on heightened alert.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Lifelong Arizona resident Jonah Phung said HSI\u2019s targeted operations and ICE\u2019s methods are more aggresive than what he saw under SB 1070. He also grew up under Arpaio\u2019s jurisdiction.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWith SB 1070, it was very targeted and very specific to a group of people,\u201d Phung said. \u201cWith this, it seems it does not matter what nationality you are, as long as you are a person of color, it feels like you are being targeted.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

He and his family started carrying extra forms of identification, including passports, at the beginning of 2026 \u2013 after he saw Asian community members<\/a> pulled out of their homes in Minnesota.<\/p>\r\n

Christy Stewart works with No More Deaths, an advocacy group dedicated to stopping the death of migrants in the desert. Recently, she\u2019s joined local rapid response groups to increase awareness of potential ICE removal operations in Tucson.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Stewart leads Know Your Rights and rapid response training every two weeks, each class holding 100 participants.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Duties of the rapid response group include going door to door in the community, checking in on neighbors, escorting children to school, delivering food and watching for federal agents.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

\u201c\u2018How are you feeling? Do you need support with groceries? Escorting your children to school? How can we support you through this time?\u2019\u201d Stewart said. \u201cThat’s part of our rapid response group training.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

She recently had to ferry young children, both of them American citizens, to and from school because one of their parents was undocumented, she said.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

Local Indigenous nations are also being affected by DHS practices. ICE detained a Navajo Nation citizen<\/a> in Peoria while he was heading to work.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

The Navajo Nation<\/a>, Salt River-Pima Maricopa Indian Community<\/a> and Gila River Indian Community<\/a> are encouraging their communities to know their rights<\/a> and are providing resources to members, such as tribal IDs, to prove their affiliation.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Originally from Chinle, Arizona, Todd Middleton recently tried to get his tribal ID. The Navajo Nation census bureau had slowed production<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Along with his Real ID and passport card, Middleton now always carries his passport. He started carrying the extra identification after the report of a Navajo man being detained<\/a> by ICE in January.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI felt like it was time to start carrying it,\u201d Middleton said. \u201cNowhere seems to be safe from DHS accosting people for their citizenship.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Middleton thinks history is repeating itself.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s frustrating and sad listening to stories of people detained by ICE,\u201d Middleton said. \u201cKnowing the history of the Navajo people and the Long Walk, there\u2019s a lot of parallels that can be pointed out between now and then.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Immigrant communities in Mesa are also working together to protect their neighbors. Dana Cardena says her neighborhood is primarily Latino, but Haitian, Venezuelan and other immigrant residents there have legal authorization to work in the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAll of us are in a group chat where we kind of do runs if someone needs groceries because they’re afraid to be outside,\u201d Cardena said.<\/p>\r\n

Both of Cardena\u2019s parents have work authorizations, but are not U.S. citizens. They both carry their Social Security cards everywhere they go.<\/p>\r\n

Her mom told her not to worry, that nothing bad could ever happen.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cMy mom told me, \u2018You\u2019re a U.S. citizen, you don\u2019t have to worry about anything,\u2019\u201d Cardena said.<\/p>\r\n

In November 2025, her mother\u2019s confidence was shaken. She changed her mind and encouraged her daughter to carry her passport wherever she goes.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s based on race, or if you look brown,\u201d Cardena said. \u201cIf you\u2019re Venezuelan, Mexican or Apache, it doesn\u2019t matter at the end of the day. The only defense you have against them are these papers.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Even then, she added, those might not be enough.<\/p>\r\n

\r\nFor more stories from Cronkite News, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A>.<\/STRONG>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

This article<\/a> first appeared on Cronkite News<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n