By Crystal Greene, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Inuvik resident Harley Minakis was on his way home from visiting his daughter in Costa Rica last week \u2014 transiting via \u201cHouston\u201d airport \u2014 when a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer stopped him. Despite having his Canadian passport, Indian status card, and Gwich\u2019in tribal card, he found himself turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. They held him in a room for roughly two hours, he told IndigiNews, with about 20 other detainees on Jan. 22. \u201c\u2018You\u2019re staying here,\u2019\u201d he recalls the agent saying. \u201cThere were a whole bunch of other people that were detained in there. They were all speaking Spanish, but they look like they\u2019re Native.\u201d Minakis said an agent told him his three identification documents were… <\/p>\n
By Crystal Greene, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Inuvik resident Harley Minakis was on his way home from visiting his daughter in Costa Rica last week \u2014 transiting via \u201cHouston\u201d airport \u2014 when a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer stopped him. Despite having his Canadian passport, Indian status card, and Gwich\u2019in tribal card, he found himself turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. They held him in a room for roughly two hours, he told IndigiNews, with about 20 other detainees on Jan. 22. \u201c\u2018You\u2019re staying here,\u2019\u201d he recalls the agent saying. \u201cThere were a whole bunch of other people that were detained in there. They were all speaking Spanish, but they look like they\u2019re Native.\u201d Minakis said an agent told him his three identification documents were... <\/p>\n