Immigration laws don’t always account for the unique legal status of Native peoples, especially those from tribal nations that cross international borders. Combine that with an increase in profiling and false immigration reports and arrests, and you find a whole lot of Native students who are grappling with continuing their education while dealing with citizenship issues at the same time.
Many Americans don’t realize that Native people weren’t granted citizenship until 1924 – even today, legal complexities affect how tribal sovereignty and federal rights interact. Policies still undermine tribal governance and limit Native students’ access to educational funding, creating additional barriers to success.
Any non-white person in the United States may be impacted by this order due to increased scrutiny and profiling by skin color. Additionally, anyone who is a US citizen by being born in the US to non-permanent US residents may find they are no longer citizens of the United States.
Native Americans find themselves under threat as some people argue their Tribal sovereignty means those on Tribal lands do not live in the United States, were not born in the United States, and therefore are not citizens of the United States.
