Elaine Miles, the celebrated Native American actor best known for her role in the 1990s television series Northern Exposure, has reported a distressing encounter with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Seattle, Washington.
The actor alleges she was stopped and detained by four masked men while walking to a bus stop in Redmond. The incident has raised serious concerns about racial profiling and the recognition of official tribal documentation by federal authorities.
A Shocking Detainment on a Seattle Street
According to Miles' account, she offered the ICE agents her official identification card from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon. Instead of accepting the government-issued document, an agent reportedly told her, "anyone can make that," dismissing it as potentially fake.
Miles, who has also appeared in major productions like The Last of Us and Smoke Signals, responded by instructing the officers to call the tribal enrollment office, the number for which was printed on the ID card. The Seattle Times reported that the officers refused to make the call.
Taking matters into her own hands, Miles called the office herself. It was at this point that one of the agents attempted to seize her phone, unsuccessfully. Following this altercation, the men released her and departed in their vehicles.
A Pattern of Profiling and a Troubled History
This is not an isolated incident for Miles' family. She revealed that her son and uncle have also previously been detained and later released by ICE officers who initially refused to accept their tribal identification.
In a powerful statement to the Lakota People’s Law Project on Facebook, Miles expressed her fury, stating, "Tribal IDs—the government issued those damn cards to us like a pedigree dog! It’s not fake!"
Her experience aligns with other reports of Native Americans being caught in wider immigration enforcement actions. Native News Online documented the case of an Indigenous woman, born in Phoenix, who was mistakenly detained by immigration authorities in Iowa.
Seattle-based Indigenous rights attorney, Gabriel Galanda, condemned the agents' actions, labelling it "racial profiling." He told the Seattle Times, "People are getting pulled over or detained on the street because of the dark color of their skin."
Lasting Repercussions and Official Ignorance
Galanda further highlighted that the refusal to accept Miles' ID points to a "fair amount of ignorance about tribal citizenship generally in society and in government."
The personal impact on Miles has been profound. She said the ordeal has left her afraid to leave her house alone or after dark.
Gabriel Galanda connected this modern-day fear to a dark historical legacy, noting the profound trouble in the fact that in 2025, "the first people of this country have to essentially look over their shoulders."
The detainment occurred on the same day ICE agents made several arrests at a Redmond shopping centre, an operation that prompted the city council to temporarily disable its licence-plate-reading cameras. This event has also spurred action elsewhere, with the Navajo nation announcing earlier this year it was taking steps to protect its community from federal immigration actions.
