This article was first published on APTN News in Canada.
A man of Gwich’in descent is glad to be back home after he was temporarily detained by border agents while travelling through the United States last week.
Harley Minakis, who lives in Inuvik, said the detention occurred at a Texas airport when he was travelling back to Canada with his wife and two children following a trip to Costa Rica.
He said U.S. border agents separated him from his family as they were going through customs, and he was taken to a different room.
Minakis said it was there that agents demanded he produce a blood-quantum document.
“They’re like, ‘Unless you can prove that you’re 50 per cent Indian, we’re revoking your Jay Treaty,’” he said.
The Jay Treaty, signed in 1794 between what was then Great Britain and the U.S., provides eligible First Nations people the right to move freely across the U.S.-Canada border for travel, studies, employment, retirement and immigration.
Minakis said agents confiscated his phone and informed him that if he couldn’t produce the blood-quantum documentation, he would be held for “processing.”
Minakis believes he was flagged at customs because of a minor marijuana possession charge from more than 20 years ago.
He said he was detained at a border crossing in California for several hours in 2013 after returning from a cruise because of the charge. He said during that detention, border agents informed him he was considered an “illegal alien,” despite entering the U.S. legally with his tribal card.
Minakis said agents informed him he would need his status card and blood-quantum documentation if he were to travel to the U.S. again. He said he was eventually allowed to leave without further issue.
Minakis said during the more recent trip, he travelled with his Canadian passport, Gwich’in Tribal card and Indian Status card, though he said he was unable to obtain formal blood-quantum documentation beforehand, as First Nations status under the Indian Act is not determined by percentage.
He said thanks to quick action by his wife and other family members, his First Nation was able to provide satisfactory blood-quantum documentation to the agents, allowing him to leave after two hours and narrowly make his flight back home.
“That was the only reason they let me go, because there was a fast response,” he said. “When that got provided to them, then their attitude changed, and it was like, ‘Oh, Mr. Minakis, here’s your papers back.’”
Minakis described the ordeal as a waste of time and unnecessarily stressful for his family. He said his son, who is autistic and non-verbal, was particularly distressed by the ordeal.
“It wasn’t a fun experience, especially for the wife and the kids,” he said.
AFN decries U.S. border enforcement for First Nations people
The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) issued a notice last week warning First Nations people to be cautious when travelling across the border, citing recent reports that members are experiencing “increased scrutiny” by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak told The Canadian Press the organisation is calling on U.S. President Donald Trump to uphold First Nations peoples’ right to cross the border “without harassment or undue hindrance.”
“First Nations, as the original peoples, were here on these lands in a good way. And we’ve shared in these lands, not for people to come here and tell us one way or another how to cross,” she told the outlet.
According to the U.S. Embassy and Consulates, First Nations people eligible to cross the border must be able to provide documentation proving at least 50 per cent Indigenous ancestry. It says that can generally include a federally issued Indigenous status identification card or an official written statement from one’s First Nation – supported by additional evidence like records or a civil long from birth certificate – as well as a stated percentage of Indigenous ancestry.
Minakis said he now plans to avoid the U.S. at all costs when travelling internationally in the future.
“If you don’t need to go there, don’t go there right now,” he said.
“Whatever headaches they have going on there, we just don’t need to be a part of it.”
By Sara Connors of APTN News
