Indigenous actor Elaine Miles says ICE called her tribal ID 'fake'

Kai Uyehara, The Seattle Times on Nov 30, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Elaine Miles was walking to a bus stop in Redmond to go to Target, she said, when four men wearing masks and vests with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement label stepped out of two black SUVs with no front plates and pressed her for her ID.

Miles, an Indigenous actor best known for her roles in Northern Exposure," "Smoke Signals," "Wyvern" and "The Last of Us," handed them her tribal ID from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon.

Federal government agencies recognize tribal ID as a valid form of identification, and Miles has used it to travel back and forth to Canada and Mexico without any issues.

Yet, Miles recalled one agent calling it "fake."

"Anyone can make that," she recalled another agent saying.

Reported encounters between immigration agents and Indigenous people like Miles' remain rare. But as immigration enforcement has gotten more aggressive, including in the Seattle area, incidents like Miles' are stoking fears beyond immigrant communities.

Miles said her son and uncle were both detained by ICE agents who initially did not accept their tribal IDs before they were eventually let go.

"What we're talking about here is racial profiling," said Seattle-based Indigenous rights attorney Gabriel Galanda, who does not represent Miles. "People are getting pulled over or detained on the street because of the dark color of their skin.”

In an emailed statement, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed that ICE did not question Miles' tribal ID, and said agents are trained to recognize the identification and accept it as proof of status.

“Allegations that DHS law enforcement officers engage in 'racial profiling' are disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE," the statement said.

The statement said ICE agents were conducting "targeted immigration enforcement traffic stops" when they encountered Miles, but did not say why they questioned her.

Miles wrote a social media post about her experience, which came on the same day ICE arrested multiple people at Redmond's Bear Creek Village shopping center.

The arrests sparked strong reaction in Redmond, including its city council voting to turn off Flock Safety license-plate-reading cameras. Although there's no evidence immigration authorities used Flock Safety footage to make the arrests, councilmembers said they were concerned about the possibility of it happening in the future.

Miles said the men, whom she worried could have been bounty hunters, did not identify themselves when she asked for their names and badge numbers while they detained her at a bus stop by the shopping center.

When the men did not believe Miles' tribal ID, she pointed to a phone number for the Umatilla Tribal enrollment office on the back of the card.

“Call it,” she said.

When they didn’t, she took out her phone to call the office herself, but the agents tried unsuccessfully to take her phone, she said. That’s when a fifth agent in the SUV whistled over, and the agents went back to their vehicles and left.

Galanda said the agents' refusal to recognize Miles' tribal ID speaks of "a fair amount of ignorance about tribal citizenship generally in society and in government.

Recently, an Indigenous woman born in Phoenix was mistakenly detained by immigration enforcement upon her discharge from jail in Des Moines, Iowa. She was eventually allowed to leave.

Galanda advises Indigenous people to always be ready with any and all forms of identification in case they are questioned by immigration enforcement, and that they do not escalate the situation.

Still, these detentions have been rare, and Galanda doesn’t want Indigenous people to be afraid.

But for Miles, she said, the damage has been done.

She said she’s afraid to leave the house alone or at night. Her aunt and uncle make her check in with them at the end of every day.

“The prospect of the First Peoples being physically or forcibly stopped or detained is harrowing and reminiscent of this country's original treatment of the First Peoples,” Galanda said. “It's also deeply troubling that in 2025, the first people of this country have to essentially look over their shoulders.”