A bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to undergo training to recognize tribal identification documents following reports of Native Americans being wrongly detained by immigration enforcement in recent months.

The legislation from Reps. Sharice Davids (D-Kansas), Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) and Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-New Mexico) and Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-New Mexico) would require the Department of Homeland Security to train immigration agents to recognize tribal IDs and enrollment documents as valid proof of citizenship.

There are 575 federally recognized tribes, each with their own ID format. Under the legislation, DHS would consult with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and tribal governments in creating the training program.

What the Right Is Saying

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) is co-sponsoring the legislation, making this one of the rare bipartisan immigration enforcement measures in the current Congress.

Larry Wright Jr., executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, a tribal advocacy organization that has backing from both Republican and Democratic tribal leaders, voiced support for the bill.

"Too often, the lack of consistent training has led to confusion, delays, and the improper treatment of tribal citizens," Wright said in a statement. "By requiring comprehensive training on tribal IDs, this bill affirms the validity of tribal governments and strengthens the federal trust responsibility."

The legislation does not change immigration law but rather addresses implementation and training protocols for existing enforcement activities.

What the Left Is Saying

Rep. Sharice Davids, co-chair of the Congressional Native American Caucus, said the legislation addresses a straightforward training gap that has led to improper detentions of Native citizens who are U.S. citizens by birth.

"When they show a tribal ID or a valid tribal identification document, they're providing proof that they're U.S. citizens and U.S. citizens to be able to provide the proof of their citizenship and not be detained or harassed by federal agents," Davids told The Hill. "And this is a straightforward training fix."

She added that when tribal IDs are ignored, it erodes trust between Native communities and federal authorities.

"It is so troubling. It is actually infuriating. There are hundreds of federally recognized tribes, and they do have different identification formats," Davids said. "If the federal government is going to have DHS, ICE, federal officers interacting with tribal citizens, we need to make sure that they're trained to appropriately identify that so that Native Americans aren't having to repeatedly prove their citizenship over and over again."

Several Democratic senators last year said they were aware of a string of alarming reports of ICE improperly stopping or detaining Tribal citizens for no apparent reason aside from their physical appearance.

What the Numbers Show

According to the Navajo Nation, at least 15 members were stopped by ICE within the first week of the Trump administration in January.

During immigration raids in Minneapolis that month, four members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe were detained before being released.

Actress Elaine Miles, a member of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, told The Seattle Times she was stopped by ICE officers who asked if she was Mexican. When she showed her tribal ID, one officer called it "fake" while another said "anyone can make that."

There are 575 federally recognized tribes in the United States, each authorized under federal law to issue its own identification documents.

ICE officers had been undergoing an accelerated training program as the Trump administration surged hiring of immigration officers. The agency recently reversed course and returned to a longer training program.

The Bottom Line

The legislation would require DHS to develop formal training standards for recognizing tribal IDs, but it does not change any underlying immigration law or enforcement authority.

Native American advocates argue that federal agents must be trained to recognize documents issued by federally recognized sovereign nations. They say current inconsistencies have resulted in citizens being detained despite holding valid identification.

Supporters from both parties say the bill represents a narrow, procedural fix rather than a broader policy shift on immigration enforcement.

The legislation awaits committee assignment in both chambers.