Kevin Abourezk
ICT
OMAHA, Nebraska – Kylesse Walker didn’t need to dance Wednesday to make the jingles on her dress clang. Nearly 40 mph winds did the work for her.
The 18-year-old Omaha and Ho-Chunk woman joined several other young Native women and dozens of other protesters on a busy street near downtown Omaha to protest the mass raids on immigrant communities being conducted nationally by federal agents.
“It’s not even just immigrants at this point,” she said. “It’s our own people. Nobody deserves to just be kidnapped like that and taken to who knows where. All Natives should stand up for what’s happening on our land and speak up.”
Walker organized the protest with the help of the Bluebird Cultural Initiative’s Youth Council. The cultural initiative is an Omaha-based cultural revitalization nonprofit organization that offers cultural education and training programs and youth programs.
Nicole Benegas, director of the cultural initiative, said the youth council decided to host the event after discussing the events taking place in Minneapolis, where hundreds of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were sent in December to conduct mass immigration enforcement.
The young people created a flyer and shared it on their social media pages. Older Native people responded by attending the protest and standing beside them as they danced on the sidewalk, hoisting scarves, including a Palestinian kufiyah, that flailed in the wind.
“It’s important to support our young people in what they want to do, just make sure they’re safe and have the things that they need to do so,” Benegas said.
She said many members of the cultural initiative’s youth council are part Hispanic or Latino, and many of them, as well as their loved ones, have friends and relatives in Minnesota being impacted by the surge of federal agents and who are taking part in community demonstrations opposing that surge.
The youth council members also are concerned that similar federal immigration enforcement surges could happen in Omaha as well.
“For centuries, we’ve been fighting for our rights here on this land,” she said. “We have a lot of Indigenous relatives who should have some of the same rights too. They were here before those borders were placed there.”
While the protest was hastily organized, Benegas said the youth are planning to host future demonstrations and also plan to undergo training that will prepare them to more effectively organize future actions.
“This is the only way to grow new leaders is to pour into our young people when they want to do something like this,” she said.
Demonstrators on Wednesday held signs that read: “Abolish ICE,” “Fascist out of Omaha,” and “Make America safe again.”
Walker said the youth council hosted a similar event in February 2025 when the Trump Administration began increasing immigration enforcement efforts. That event included a drum group and powwow dancers.
“A lot of my friends from the Mexican community really appreciated us stepping up for them and showing that we’re all in this together,” she said.
She said she was reminded of the earlier demonstration after seeing Mexican dancers performing in Minneapolis recently.
Walker said it’s important for Native Americans to understand that Hispanic immigrants are Indigenous to the Americas as well, and she said she is concerned by seeing Natives being taken into custody by ICE agents.
She said the youth council plans to host a much larger demonstration in the future with drummers, dancers and speakers.
“Hopefully it’ll be warmer,” Walker said.