The woman had been in jail on unrelated charges when another inmate, with the same name, was flagged by the Department of Homeland Security. DES MOINES, Iowa — A Native American woman has been released from custody after a clerical mistake led to her being flagged as an undocumented immigrant by the Polk County Sheriff's Office. The sheriff's office has an agreement with federal authorities allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to flag inmates who they believe are undocumented immigrants. In early November, the sheriff's office received a detainer request from ICE to flag an inmate with the same name as this Indigenous woman, who had been in jail on unrelated charges. Those close to tribal communities, like Sikowis Nobiss, a citizen of George Gordon First Nation, say these mistakes are not new. “Immigration laws have been key in eroding Indigenous peoples,” she said. “They have restricted us from our traditional movements, and it is an ongoing encroachment on our territories.” Today, most Indigenous groups live integrated into non-Native communities, and only about 23% reside on designated land nationwide. In Iowa, there is just one such area: the Meskwaki Settlement. That integration often leads to mistaken identity, according to Indigenous journalist Amelia Schafer. “I think a lot of Iowans do not realize that the Meskwaki Nation is there, and they are going to assume that this person has a darker skin tone and Indigenous genous features so they must be Mexican,” she told Local 5. It is also a perception based on history. Many Native people in the Southwest have Hispanic surnames and most Latino people have Indigenous ancestry, making misidentification even more likely. “Those regions were colonized by Spain. So those Native people are very likely to have Hispanic last names and then compounded with the fact that most Latino people have Indigenous ancestry, so often Native people are mistaken as being Latino,” Schafer said. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office says the woman was released on schedule and the immigration tag did not delay her case.