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Navajo Nation member speaks out about being detained by ICE in Arizona

School buses carry children across the vast Navajo Nation south of Rock Point on the Navajo Indian Reservation, Arizona. (David McNew/Getty Images)
David McNew/Getty Images
School buses carry children across the vast Navajo Nation south of Rock Point on the Navajo Indian Reservation, Arizona. (David McNew/Getty Images)

Peter Yazzie was at a gas station just getting ready for work when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents swarmed his vehicle.

As a U.S. citizen and a member of the Navajo Nation and Laguna Pueblo in Arizona, Yazzie says he directed officers to documents proving his citizenship and tribal ancestry, but was ignored and instead detained for several hours in the Phoenix area.

He tells Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd about the experience.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2026 WBUR

Here & Now Newsroom

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