The casino, in Canyonville south of Roseburg, is owned and operated by the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians and sits on tribal land. The arrest is the first publicly known immigration arrest on tribal land in Oregon.

The man’s tribal status is not known; he may have been a tribal member or a casino visitor. A spokesperson for the Cow Creek Band did not respond to a request for comment.

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the arrest and said the man is from Mexico. The spokesperson described it as a “targeted operation” and said the man had previously accepted three voluntary removals — two in 1998 and one in 2000 — before reentering the country at an unknown time and place.

Federal court records show that a habeas corpus petition challenging an ICE arrest was filed that day on behalf of a person identified as “HBR.” The initials match the name federal officials disclosed, but attorney Lorena Reynolds said a protective order bars her from identifying her client and she could not confirm whether the person in the petition was the man arrested at the casino.

Reynolds said ICE’s current operations are “unprecedented” and “shocking.” Habeas petitions allow people to ask a federal court to review whether their detention is lawful. Immigration-related petitions have increased sharply nationwide under the Trump administration; Oregon attorneys had filed 62 since January 2025 as of early 2026, compared with one in 2019, according to figures cited in the report.

The DHS spokesperson did not answer questions about whether agents may make arrests on tribal lands or whether ICE had a warrant in this case. The spokesperson said the agency seeks to work with tribal leaders and law enforcement, and cited federal authority when discussing people it described as being unlawfully in the country.

The detention comes amid a broader federal immigration enforcement push and renewed concern among tribal governments about encounters with ICE. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs urged members this summer to contact tribal police if they saw ICE agents on the reservation, after agents were reported passing through reservation lands. Tribes have taken different positions on federal authority: Warm Springs acknowledged federal jurisdiction while urging members to alert police, while Washington’s Tulalip Tribes have asserted that federal agents lack jurisdiction over their nations and citizens.

The Native American Rights Fund has also objected to ICE actions involving Native people, arguing that arrests of tribal members can violate treaty, constitutional and civil rights. In the Canyonville case, the judge’s release order allowed the man to leave detention while his deportation proceedings continue.