Renowned Native American actress Elaine Miles, celebrated for her roles in 'The Last of Us' and 'Northern Exposure', has come forward with a disturbing account of being detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who allegedly dismissed her official tribal identification as a forgery.
The Confrontation at the Bus Stop
The incident unfolded on November 19 in Pendleton, Oregon, as the 65-year-old actress waited for a bus with plans to visit a nearby Target. According to Miles, four masked men wearing ICE gear emerged from two unmarked black SUVs and approached her on foot. The agents immediately demanded to see her identification.
Miles complied, presenting her federally recognised tribal ID card registered with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. She recounted that the agents repeatedly insisted the document 'looked fake', despite her protests and offers for them to contact her tribe's enrolment office for verification. 'Told them call that number & it will be The Enrollment Office of my tribe. They kept saying "anyone can make those, it's fake" I was so mad!' she wrote in a passionate Facebook post to the Lakota People's Law Project's official group.
Escalation and Alleged Threats
The situation intensified when Miles threatened to call the tribal offices herself. She claims the agents responded by threatening to confiscate her mobile phone. The actress did not hold back her fury, cursing the agents and labelling them 'racist bigots'. She recalled telling one of the men, who she identified as Mexican, 'you're a disgrace to your people'.
Throughout the entire ordeal, Miles stated that the agents refused to provide their names or badge numbers, leaving her unable to formally identify them. A report from The Seattle Times later revealed that a fifth agent arrived on the scene, at which point the other agents reportedly left Miles alone.
Aftermath and Wider Context
The alleged detainment has had a profound personal impact on the actress. Miles told The Seattle Times that she is now afraid to leave her house. This is not an isolated incident within her family; she revealed that both her son and uncle have previously been detained by ICE agents who initially refused to accept their tribal IDs before eventually releasing them.
Her detention occurred on the same day ICE conducted multiple arrests at Redmond’s Bear Creek Village shopping centre, located near the bus stop where she was stopped. Her original Facebook post, aside from a reshare by the California Lakota nonprofit, has since been made unavailable. In it, she questioned the agents' priorities, stating they should be targeting 'the "rapist, felon, robbers, drug n human traffickers" not women waiting at bus stop'.
The Daily Mail has reached out to ICE for comment on the matter.
