Arrest of Elaine Miles, Indigenous Actress of The Last of Us, by ICE Agents on Charges of Presenting “Fake” Documents
According to CinemaDrame News Agency, Elaine Miles, the Indigenous actress from The Last of Us, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Redmond, Washington, while she was walking toward a bus station.
The Seattle Times reports that agents claim Miles was detained for presenting fake documents, but she had shown her Indigenous identification card issued by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla in Oregon — a document recognized as valid by federal agencies. The report states that Miles has long used this card for travel to Canada and Mexico.
However, the agents — wearing masks and vests and stepping out of black, unmarked SUVs — refused to accept her ID, insisting that “anyone” could fake it.
Miles says her son and other relatives have faced similar treatment, and that ICE officers have temporarily detained them as well. Gabriel Galanda, an attorney specializing in Indigenous rights, says: “What we’re talking about here is racial profiling. People are stopped in their cars or detained on the streets because their skin is dark.”
A few weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court made it easier for immigration authorities to conduct racial profiling, granting them permission to consider race and ethnicity as a factor when pursuing an undocumented immigrant.
