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Native actress Elaine Miles, known for her roles in TV’s “Northern Exposure” and the 1998 movie “Smoke Signals” has spent the last month contending with a run-in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents – and the response to her sharing her story with local and national media.
Brian Bull of Buffalo’s Fire reports.
On November 3, Miles says she was at a bus stop in Redmond, Wash. preparing to do a Target run when several men in camo fatigues and tactical gear appeared.
For 45 minutes, she says they deliberated over the legitimacy of her tribal ID, and if they were aware of her rights as a U.S. citizen.
“I go, ‘Are you federal? Are you recognized as a federal officer? Do you have the warrant stating that you have right to stop me?’ And then they kept saying, ‘We don’t need a warrant.’ And I go, ‘Yes, you do.’”
Miles said the men often looked confused at her assertions and finally left when another man called them back to a waiting SUV.
In the following weeks as ICE activity continued around Redmond, Miles retreated from doing things around town, prompting concern from relatives and friends.
She decided late last month to share her story, including with the Seattle Times, Newsweek, and Salon. She found support, but also toxic trolling.
“People are calling me a racist, a bigot. I’m hateful, you know? And then I even had some people say I was a Pretendian. Oh, and I like this one: ‘Miss Piggy, go back to the reservation where you belong.’”
Miles says she’ll keep sharing her story, and advises her fellow Natives to carry their tribal IDs, passports, and copies of their birth certificates.
Meanwhile, Miles is looking forward to her next project: a TV series that will start filming next year.
“Probably be January, February. She’s a knowledgeable cop.”
Tribes across the U.S. have reported their citizens being confronted by ICE as President Trump’s immigration crackdown continues.
On Veterans Day, a Native woman in Des Moines, Iowa had an ICE detainer placed on her, which almost led to her being put into ICE custody, until it was learned jail administrators confused her with another person with the same last name.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.
Janice Talas-Denny (Hopi), the tribal veteran support coordinator at Televeda, installs a Starlink at New Pascua on October 2, 2025. (Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ)
Without reliable internet, it’s often challenging for veterans to apply for and access financial and health benefits, including mental health care.
But as KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, a Phoenix-based telehealth company and the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services are partnering to help better equip those living on remote tribal lands.
So far, Janice Talas-Denny (Hopi) with Televada has so far delivered 16 military-grade kits containing Starlink satellite internet systems – at no-cost – to over a dozen tribes across Arizona beginning this year in Parker.
“If I can do this, anyone can do this.”
Her latest stop, New Pascua, is just on the outskirts of Tucson, Ariz.
“It’s a hot day today. We don’t want to be out here too long.”
Fortunately, it takes only ten minutes, she says, for the satellite hookup once they figure out which direction is north.
Along with her is Dylan Dalzotto on behalf of the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services.
“Let’s start with 50, see where it goes and here we are rather quickly, excited to get the rest of them out there and a big roadblock for a lot of vets is the internet connectivity.”
Even for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe.
“And a lot of times, they’re not.”
Carmen Rivera is the tribe’s veterans benefits counselor and often travels to the Mexico border, meeting with tribal members living off-grid.
“And when you give them, you know, information, whether it be off this system, or you give it to them in paper, they like that.”
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