Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

February 9, 2026

Oak Flat March and Run: Apache Stronghold Photos


Oak Flat March and Run: Apache Stronghold Photos

By Apache Stronghold, Censored News, Feb. 9, 2026

12th Annual Oak Flat March/Run. The final day of the run, Saturday,February 7, 2026, the experienced runners passed through the final corridor, ending at the Oak Flat campground. The annual gathering followed, with speakers representing many tribes, backgrounds, and ages sharing their thoughts on Oak Flat and the importance of protecting this sacred and irreplaceable site. Photos by Molly Peters .













Apache Stronghold is battling to protect Oak Flat from becoming the gigantic crater of a copper mine, that would destroy the Sacred Ceremonial Place, seize and pollute the water, and poison the air and land.

February 6, 2026

OAK FLAT: SACRED CHI’CHIL BIł’DAGOTEEL MARCH/RUN FEBUARY 5-8, 2026


Photo courtesy Apache Stronghold 2026


Photo courtesy Apache Stronghold 2026


12TH ANNUAL SACRED CHI’CHIL BIł’DAGOTEEL OAK FLAT MARCH/RUN FEBUARY 5-8, 2026

12th ANNUAL SACRED
CHI’CHIL BIł’DAGOTEEL OAK FLAT MARCH/RUN
February 5-8 pm, 2026

Thursday, Feb 5th - 4 pm Holy Ground Blessing and Dinner at Old San Carlos Monument. Run will follow after blessing

Friday, Feb 6th- 8 am March/Run will begin at the New Skate Park (Sport Complex) and will end in Miami, Arizona, at the Shrine

Saturday, Feb 7th - 8 am Run will begin at the Shrine in Miami, Arizona, to Oak Flat

Sunday, Feb 8th - 9 am Holy Ground Blessing at Oak Flat and then departure

The Ghost Flights: Deportation Flights Disappearing Thousands Arrested by ICE


The Ghost Flights: Deportation Flights Disappearing Thousands Arrested by ICE

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Feb. 6, 2026

The Ghost Flights.

We've been tracking the Ghost Flights, disappearing migrants, moms, asylum seekers, and others arrested in Minneapolis, who are quickly grabbed and taken away at a private terminal at Minneapolis international airport.

The charter airlines are making it harder to track them, but here's what we found: GlobalX, Eastern and Omni based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, have operated most of these, with Sun Country also operating some of the flights.

These secretive flights take those arrested to deportation hubs in isolated areas, where they are sent to prison, deported to other countries, or constantly shifted on flights. These secretive hubs are in Dade Collier in the Florida Everglades; Alexandria in central Louisiana; and Harlingen on the Texas border.

Those arrested are boarded shackled in chains from their wrists to their feet, and often denied water and food, and abused. While these secretive flights disappear people, their families desperately search for them.

The flights out of Mesa in the Phoenix area are deporting hundreds on each flight to Venezuela. A recent flight out of Mesa deported those arrested to Russia and Iran. The past flights show the men were immediately given draft notices for military service when they arrived in Russia. Protesters and political asylum seekers face worse.

As for the chartered airlines, the main contract is held by CSI in Albuquerque, who contracts out the other airlines.

Yesterday, a Ghost Flight landed in Guantanamo and then Haiti. These are moms, workers, asylum seekers, legal residents, and most are whisked away and denied due process. More than 2,000 have been deported from Minneapolis.

Other major hubs for deportation flights are El Paso, Miami, San Antonio, and Tacoma, Washington. The deportation flights are arriving in every region of the world, the Americas, Asia, and Africa.

These are the Ghost Flights.

(Below) Ghost Flight deportation flight on Thursday, from deportation hub in central Louisiana at Alexandria to Guantanamo and Haiti. Tracking on Twitter/X.

(Below) Ghost Flight in Minneapolis to disappear those arrested. Eastern Airlines doesn't want you to see this, and is trying to block flight tracking, but plane spotters have it anyway. Arrived Thursday at 2 p.m. at the secretive deportation hanger at the Minneapolis international airport, between Terminal 1 and 2, the deportation site is operated by Signature. Tracking on Facebook.



(Below) Five miles south of Seattle, King County Airport is one of the airports disappearing migrants. Today, La Resistencia reports volunteers who observe deportation flights informed us this morning that 27 people were boarded on a plane to be transferred and/or deported.

15 People came off the plane to be detained at Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma.

Top photo by Jaida Grey Eagle, Oglala Lakota, for NPR. Read more on the deportation flights and the photographer tracking them in Minneapolis:

Minneapolis Deportation Flights

https://www.npr.org/2026/02/06/nx-s1-5701432/minneapolis-ice-air-deportation-flights


Deportation flights to Guantanamo include Cubans and Asylum Seekers

The US transferred 22 Cuban migrants to its naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, despite a federal judge ruling that the administration exceeded its authority in holding migrants at the facility, according to a report on Tuesday.

The men, believed to be the first Cuban citizens sent to the base since January, arrived on Sunday via an ICE air charter from Louisiana, The New York Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

ICE has held about 730 men at Guantanamo, mostly from Latin American countries including El Salvador, Guatemala, and Venezuela, according to the report.


Deportees to Russia

Russian authorities have intensified military draft enforcement at airports, issuing summons to returning men, including those deported from the U.S., amid the Ukraine conflict.
Deportees from the U.S. often face immediate interrogations by the FSB, potential arrests, and conscription risks, with some reports suggesting pathways to imprisonment or frontline deployment.


Mother Jones: ICE Flights are Getting Longer and Crueler

Just before being put on board her deportation flight, Melissa Tran’s wrists and ankles were shackled to a chain around her waist. It had been more than 10 hours since she’d been given any food or water; for the last seven, she had been sitting on a bus on the tarmac.

There was no company name or logo on the Boeing 767, but she soon learned the airline was called Omni Air International.



Article copyright Censored News

February 5, 2026

Ward Valley 'Ground Zero' Spiritual Gathering 2026


Photo by Ian Zabarte, Western Shoshone

28th Annual Ward Valley 'Ground Zero' Spiritual Gathering 2026




Read more: The People Stopped a Nuclear Waste Dump
Censored News

'The Birdsingers Rhythmic Journey Home'

The Bird Songs once again guided those who have lived in the Mojave Desert since time immemorial, home to a safe haven.

Llewellyn Barrackman, Mohave elder, said, "The Mojave have no place to go. This is our home."

"We are the Pipa Aha Macav, the people along the river, instructed by the Creator to protect it."

Barrackman's words, before he passed to the Spirit World, were at Ward Valley, during the 113-day Occupation which halted a nuclear waste dump on sacred land in 1998.

Here, led by Mojave, Chemehuevi, Quechan, Cocopah and Colorado Indian Tribes, the Occupation faced off law enforcement, and not only survived in the desert, but celebrated a victory here.

February 4, 2026

Jingle Dance for Healing in Minneapolis



Photo by Jaida Greyeagle, Oglala Lakota, for MPR News
Jingle dress dancers came together and danced at both Renee Good and Alex Pretti’s memorial sites in Minneapolis on Sunday to help offer healing to the community amid the ongoing Operation Metro Surge.

See more photos at https://www.instagram.com/jaida.greyeagle/
MPR News https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/02/02/jingle-dress-dancers-hold-healing-ceremonies-at-good-pretti-memorial-sites-in-minneapolis

January 31, 2026

Bizarre Message from Demoted U.S. Border Patrol Czar at Mount Rushmore on Lakotas Sacred Black Hills


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U.S. Border Patrol's Greg Bovino at Mount Rushmore. Video by Nick Sortor

Bizarre Message from Demoted U.S. Border Patrol Czar at Mount Rushmore on Lakotas Sacred Black Hills

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Jan. 31, 2026

UPDATE: The two Border Patrol agents who murdered Alex Pretti have been identified by ProPublica. Both are from South Texas. Link

The demoted head of the U.S. Border Patrol operations in Minneapolis delivered a bizarre message at Mount Rushmore, as his caravan snaked its way back across the west. Lakotas said the presence of Greg Bovino on their ancestral lands in the Black Hills was a violation of the sacred.

Bovino's message comes after the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE and the U.S. Border Patrol in Minneapolis, and the illegal arrests and assaults of Native people there.

At Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, Bovino referred to the chiseled rock heads of the four U.S. presidents behind him, as the original 'turn and burn' -- the folks that helped make America.

Bovino said he's proud of what the "mean green machine" is doing in Minneapolis and calls them the 'modern day equivalent' of the original turn and burn presidents.

January 28, 2026

Oglala President Bans ICE and U.S. Border Patrol from Oglala Lakota Nation in South Dakota

 

Lakota roadblock in 2020

Oglala President Bans ICE and U.S. Border Patrol from Oglala Lakota Nation, Pine Ridge, South Dakota

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, January 28, 2026

Oglala Lakota President Frank Star Comes Out issued a Presidential Proclamation today banning both ICE and the U.S. Border Patrol from the Oglala Lakota Nation. The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council banned ICE, and rejected an agreement to work with immigration officials, on January 21.

President Star Comes Out points out in the Proclamation today that the U.S. Border Patrol is working with ICE in its "unlawful conduct against Native people in Minneapolis" -- which is within the Aboriginal Territory of the Great Sioux Nation.

Calling it "egregious conduct," the President's Proclamation states that ICE and the U.S. Border Patrol are targeting minorities throughout the United States, and Native people are being detained and injured, in violation of Treaties and civil rights.

PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATION AND OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE ORDINANCE

Navajos Warn of Secretive Tribal Government Reform


Dine' Grassroots Coalition members read a statement of opposition to a secretive tribal government reform proposal, in front of the Navajo Nation Council's winter session on Tuesday. Screenshot by Censored News.

Navajos Warn of Secretive Tribal Government Reform 

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Jan. 27, 2026

Navajos warned of a secretive Navajo government reform that is underway that would change Diné life, and silence the voices of the people for generations to come.

Chili Yazzie, former Shiprock Council Delegate and Chapter President, said proposing the government reform as a "yes or no" question for the Dine' voters on the ballot in 2026 is "an abuse of our people."

Speaking during the press conference at the Navajo Nation Council chambers on Tuesday morning, Herb Yazzie, retired Chief Justice of the Navajo Nation, pointed out the harm that could come.

January 27, 2026

Red Lake Anishinaabe in Minnesota Prohibit ICE Without Court Order: 'Ashamed and Disgusted' with Violation of Rights

 


Red Lake Anishinaabe in Minnesota Prohibit ICE: 'Ashamed and Disgusted' with Violation of Rights

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Jan. 28, 2026

The Red Lake Tribal Council passed a resolution prohibiting Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from entering the Red Lake Nation unless they have a specific court order signed by a judge with jurisdiction to sign such an order.

The resolution says the Tribal Council has been watching ICE actions in Minnesota and is “ashamed and disgusted at the obvious violations of constitutional rights directed at United States citizens by ICE officers.”

The Tribal Council members being made aware of a Leech Lake band member being apprehended in the Walker area. They suspect that it is just a matter of time before ICE officers attempt to enter the Red Lake Nation.

The resolution also prohibits ICE's "fishing expeditions" on its land.

Lakeland PBS reports:

The Red Lake Tribal Council has passed a resolution prohibiting Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from entering the Red Lake Nation unless they have a specific court order signed by a judge with jurisdiction to sign such an order.

The resolution, which passed on a 10-0 vote, says the Tribal Council has been watching ICE actions in Minnesota and is “ashamed and disgusted at the obvious violations of constitutional rights directed at United States citizens by ICE officers.” They add that, with Tribal Council members being made aware of a Leech Lake band member being apprehended in the Walker area, they suspect that it is just a matter of time before ICE officers attempt to enter the Red Lake Nation.

The resolution says no ICE officer or federal officer may be present on the Red Lake Nation without the presence of a Red Lake officer, and that the federal officers may only be present for as long as it takes to serve the order. In addition, it says no ICE officer or federal officer in the service of ICE shall be permitted to engage in a fishing expedition in search of any person, and that such officers are prohibited from approaching any individual, home, or vehicle outside the presence of a Red Lake officer.



Diné Defend Land and Water at Navajo Nation Council


Photo Censored News

Diné Defend Land and Water at Navajo Nation Council 

Update from the press conference at the Navajo Nation Council on Tuesday:

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/01/navajos-warn-of-secretive-tribal.html

Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026

Dine' demand an end to the giveaways to corporations with their banner, "National Sacrifice Zone: NO MORE!" Speaking in front of the Navajo Nation Council session now, Dine' are protecting their children, their future, and their water, air and land. Dine' are speaking out about the bribes, backdoor deals and tribal government corruption involved in the deals with energy companies.

Calling for an end to burning fossil fuels -- coal, oil and gas -- Dine' called for fossil-free energy in order to mitigate climate change, during the morning's press conference in front of the Navajo Nation Council, now in its winter session.

Watch recorded videos of today:

Tó Nizhóní Ání 


By Chili Yazzie, Censored News

Contact: chili_yazzie@hotmail.com

A group of grassroots organizations convened in Dec 2025 to discuss concerns related to the Navajo Nation, these concerns have been formulated into position statements to be presented to the Navajo Nation leadership including the Navajo Nation Council and the Office of the President and Vice President. These positions will be presented at the Press Conference to be held in front of the Navajo Nation Council Chambers on January 27, 2026, at 9 am. 

  • The proposal to reform the Navajo government drafted by the Office of Navajo Government Development has been analyzed and is found to be replete with foundational issues, we are recommending that the proposal not be presented to the Navajo people as a referendum initiative as proposed by the ONGD

  • The proposal by the Trump administration to expedite natural resources extraction with little or no environmental review is a critical concern

  • The depletion of the waters of Navajo lands and the continued lost of water rights must be consciously and deliberately addressed by our Navajo Nation leadership

  • The uninhibited incursion by the federal Immigration and Custom Enforcement agency on Indian lands and arrest and abuse of Native American citizens is greatly concerning  


Diné Grassroots Coalition is a coalition comprised of Diné community members concerned about the state of the Navajo Nation. 



January 25, 2026

Standing Rock and Sisseton Wahpeton Tribal Members Arrested as ICE Terrorizes Minnesota


Standing Rock and Sisseton Wahpeton Tribal Members Arrested as ICE Terrorizes  Minnesota


Native Americans are being detained throughout the United States illegally. Protests continue after the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis.

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Jan. 25, 2026 Midnight Update

The Standing Rock Nation in North Dakota reports that a tribal member was detained by ICE and the tribe was able to secure their release in Minnesota. A Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate was also arrested by the FBI in Minneapolis on Saturday. Six tribes in South Dakota responded with a joint statement.

William LaFromboise, Dakota, was located safe, but bruised. LaFromboise was standing near the site where Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, was murdered by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday. LaFromboise was among those present who was arrested. He was released without being charged with any crime.

Other witnesses standing near the site of the crime, the murder of Alex Pretti, say they fear for their lives, and have gone into hiding. Federal agents are reported hunting down the witnesses to arrest them.

The Rosebud Lakota Nation in South Dakota joined other tribes in banning ICE. The Oglala Lakota and Cheyenne River Lakota Nations have already banned ICE in South Dakota.

Rosebud Sioux Tribal President Kathleen Wooden Knife said today, "The RST Council passed a motion to join the other tribes in disallowing access to our reservations. An official copy of the approved resolution will be forthcoming."

"No agreement has been developed or ratified by the Tribal Council in respect to ICE training RST Officers in future endeavors," President Wooden Knife said.

South Dakota Tribes Issue Joint Statement on Sunday Night

The Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, Spirit Lake Nation, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Yankton Sioux Tribe, and Rosebud Sioux Tribe have issued a joint statement in response to recent federal actions in Minnesota.

"Together, our Nations reaffirm our commitment to the safety, dignity, and rights of Indigenous Peoples and to upholding the federal trust and fiduciary responsibilities owed to Tribal Nations and citizens, both on and off our homelands. Our unity reflects our shared responsibility to protect our people."

The tribes extended their deep condolences to the families who have lost loved ones, expressed concern over the FBI's arrest of a Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota, and gave details on the contacts made with federal authorities. (See Joint Statement below.)



🚨 A Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate tribal member was kidnapped by ICE despite proof of tribal identification:

Two family members of William LaFromboise report that he was detained by I.C.E. today (Saturday) in the Twin Cities, Minnesota area. According to the family, William had his tribal I.D. with him at the time of the detention but was still taken into custody.

They also stated that they contacted the tribe’s chairman, J. Garrett Renville, who has since reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for further information on the whereabouts of William. The family is currently awaiting a response and, at this time, does not know where William was taken and have not been able to communicate with him since.

(UPDATE: Jan. 25/12:21am — The family reported he is found and safe now, but did sustain some bruises.)

Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Nation: Lakota Arrested by ICE





Standing Rock Lakota Detained by ICE Released at 5 a.m. Today


Six Lakota/Dakota Tribal Nations Released Joint Statement on Sunday Night





Northern Cheyenne President Reports Back from Minneapolis

Minneapolis Indian Community. Photo courtesy Northern Cheyenne President Gene Small
Update on Visit with the American Indian Movement (AIM) & the City of Minneapolis Concerning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Activity

By Northern Cheyenne President Gene Small
DATE: January 25, 2026
TO: The Northern Cheyenne Nation

As President of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, I acknowledge and affirm the importance of Tribal Sovereignty and the rights of our Tribal Citizens. Any federal actions that treat Indigenous people as immigration targets undermine centuries of treaties and our legal status.

I am aware of the increased ICE activity in Minnesota and the fear it has caused in our communities. I want to be clear: Northern Cheyenne Tribal members are citizens of sovereign Tribal Nations and of the United States. While in Minnesota attending the Government-To-Government Tribal Consultation in Prior Lake I was able to visit the Powwow Grounds Coffee shop on Franklin Street.

The coffee shop is considered a safe haven in the context of ICE activity and is monitored and protected by Mike Forcia who is the Chapter President of Twin Cities AIM. I had the chance to visit with him, and he assured me he would contact me, if he discovers any Northern Cheyenne Members being harassed or detained illegally. If there are any Northern Cheyenne Members in Minneapolis and need help with being harassed or profiled, please reach out to Mike and he will get ahold of me.

I also had the privilege to visit with Christine who works as an American Indian Community Specialist for the City of Minneapolis. Christine will also keep me informed on our Northern Cheyenne Relatives.

I appreciate the opportunity to engage in this dialogue with Mike and Christine who share my commitment to protecting our people, our lands, and our sovereign rights as a priority in the safety and dignity of our Indigenous people.
Nea’esemeno

Gene Small
President
Northern Cheyenne Tribe

The Ghost Flights

Today, Sunday, a deportation flight departed from the Mesa Gateway Airport in the Phoenix Valley in Arizona. The flight is deporting people to Russia and Iran. Many have been denied due process. Some face prison or death when they return to their home countries.

The flight is operated by Omni Airlines, a contract airline in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

In Minneapolis, the Ghost Flights leave without call numbers or names. Migrants are shackled from their wrists to their feet and hobble onto the planes that disappear them.

Leaving from Terminal 1 at the Minneapolis St Paul International Airport, the Ghost Flights secretly take migrants to deportation hubs in El Paso, Miami, Omaha, Alexandria, Louisiana, and elsewhere. From there, they are deported to other countries, including Guantanamo Bay and every region of the world, Asia, the Americas, and Africa, as shown on ICE Flight Tracker.

They are moms and workers. Many are legal residents.

Read more at Censored News:

U.S. Border Patrol Beats and Executes ICU Nurse in Minneapolis on Saturday

Oglala Lakota Nation Bans ICE, Rejects Federal Agreement

Cheyenne River Lakota Bans ICE in South Dakota

ICE Terrorizing Navajo, Pascua Yaqui and Absentee Shawnee in Arizona and Oklahoma


Copyright Censored News

Mohawk Nation News 'Canada's 'Art of the Deal'


Read at Mohawk Nation News 

https://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2026/01/25/canadas-art-of-the-deal/

January 24, 2026

US Border Patrol Beats and Executes Nurse in Minneapolis

U.S. Border Patrol Beats and Executes Nurse in Minneapolis

Minneapolis residents gather to light candles and lay flowers in the street on the spot where Federal agents shot and killed 37-year-old Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti.

Censored News, updated Jan. 24, 2026 11 p.m.

Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital, was tackled and beaten by a mob of federal agents Saturday morning in Minneapolis. Alex was assassinated by the U.S. Border Patrol.

Alex went to the aid of a woman and was brutally attacked by federal agents. Drop Site News describes what videos reveal.

"To be clear about what this depicts: An immigration officer threw a woman onto the ground. Alex Pretti, a registered nurse on the scene as a legal observer, is filming and goes to help the woman up. He is then pepper sprayed and thrown to the ground for no discernible reason. Many officers surround and assault him; one removes his firearm, which police say appears to have been legally registered. They then execute him with a hail of bullets," Drop Site News reports.

January 23, 2026

Oglala Lakota Nation Bans ICE, Rejects Immigration Agreement




Oglala Lakota Nation Bans ICE and Rejects Immigration Agreement

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Jan. 23, 2026

The Oglala Sioux Tribe unanimously banned ICE from Pine Ridge and rejected a federal immigration agreement, during a special session of the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council on Jan. 21, 2026.

Upholding their sovereignty, the Oglala Tribal Council confirmed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement asked the Tribe to enter into Section 287(g), a federal agreement that would have allowed tribal law enforcement to act as immigration agents for ICE.