Why Greenland and ICE Could Spell the End of U.S. Empire

Since the late 15th century, the Americas have been colonized by the Spanish, French, British, Portuguese, and the United States, among others. This begs the question: how do we determine the right to citizenship over land that has been stolen or seized? Should we, as United States citizens today, condone the use of violence and force to remove, deport, and detain Indigenous Peoples from the Americas, including Native American and Indigenous Peoples with origins in Latin America? I argue that Greenland and ICE represent the tipping point for the legitimacy of the U.S. as a weakening world power that is losing credibility at home and abroad.

On January 9th, the BBC reported that President Trump, during a press briefing about his desire to “own” Greenland, stated that, “Countries have to have ownership and you defend ownership, you don't defend leases. And we'll have to defend Greenland," Trump told reporters on Friday, in response to a question from the BBC. The US will do it "the easy way" or "the hard way", he said. During this same press briefing, Trump stated, “The fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago doesn't mean that they own the land.”

For millions of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and other Indigenous Peoples from the United States, Mexico, Latin America, and Greenland, this comment was not only ironic but registers to us as a form of blindness to U.S. imperialism, genocide, and land theft. It is a troubling reminder of U.S. and other European boats and ships that arrived on these shores to steal Indigenous lands and to then turn around and criminalize the people and Indigenous nations that already lived here. Now Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) by many accounts has been weaponized against U.S. citizens, including citizens of federally recognized American Indian nations, against Indigenous Peoples from Latin Americas as well as against U.S. citizens who are simply exercising their legal rights to protest the use of ICE to abduct, kidnap, and detain people based on of race, color, language and accent.

There have been recent reports that document the abduction of American Indian people from Minneapolis that are sparking outrage across Indian country. I ask readers to consider, if American Indians from the United States are the original peoples of this land, how should we account for Latinos immigrating from Latin America to the United States, who are overwhelmingly Indigenous and who lived in this territory long before the United States existed?

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 led Mexico to cede over 55% of its territory to the United States, including the states of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, most of Colorado, and parts of Wyoming. Mexico also gave up title to Texas. Prior to this Treaty, the Louisiana Purchase Treaty in 1803 led to the acquisition of 15 current U.S. States that were previously colonized and controlled by France and Spain. It is crucial to point out that those 15 states, as well as the states ceded by Mexico, were not there to give. Indigenous peoples from present-day Mexico and the United States were never fully consulted on these transactions, and one could argue this was all done by force and has never been addressed. Mexico was created from a colonial government much like the United States. Spain and Britain colonized and illegally occupied the Americas without Indigenous consent. I contend that the people of Mexico of Indigenous descent should, by default, have U.S. citizenship by birthright. A false border was created to disenfranchise them.

Today a similar process of invasion and illegal land seizure or an attempt to purchase Greenland would be yet another example of United States’ brutality and illegal global action. Greenland’s Indigenous people are Inuit. 89% of Greenland’s population is Greenlandic Inuit, who comprise three primary ethnic/tribal groups: the Kalaallit, the Tunumiit, and the Inughuit. Yet here we see history repeating itself. Denmark, like Spain, Mexico, and France, which stole and then ceded Indigenous lands to the United States, is in no position to determine the rights of the Inuit Peoples of Greenland, who have made it clear they don’t want the United States in their country.

According to El País International, 85% of the people of Greenland voted no to U.S. annexation, “In Greenland, the U.S. threat has been strongly opposed by the people. In January 2025, when Trump began talking about his intention to buy or invade the Arctic Island at any cost, a poll was conducted to gauge Greenlanders' sentiment.

Aqqaluk Lynge, the former president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, critiques Trump’s push for control in the El País article, asking, “If they do this to us, who will be next?”

The threat of an attack on Greenland is causing a global crisis as great as the domestic crisis being caused by ICE as they wage war on the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas. Political Scientists argue that if President Trump invades Greenland, it could signal the end of the NATO Alliance and the selling of U.S. bonds that would cripple our economy, leading to devastating economic and social consequences. Selling off $10 trillion in U.S. bonds held by Europe too quickly could permanently destabilize our economy.

My call to action includes the following 7-point plan:

1. A global boycott and complete embargo of United States products (imports and exports) by nations around the world, and a travel ban on tourism and business to the United States until all illegally held immigrants, permanent legal residents, U.S. citizens, and detainees are released and reunited with their families, followed by a full legal investigation.
2. A global boycott of complicit organizations and corporations (including major news corporations and businesses) controlled by allies of the current U.S. federal administration and Donald Trump.
3. A public meeting of all blue states led by governors, senators, congressional leaders, non-profit and social justice movement leaders, and grassroots organizers, to form a pact and alliance to protect themselves and their citizens/communities from federal tyranny and to refuse taxation without representation.
4. A U.N. (United Nations) Declaration on the Rights to Citizenship and Free Movement of Indigenous Peoples Across Canada, Mexico, and the United States, which would issue entry passports to Indigenous Peoples from any of these three nations to the other countries. These passports should also be provided to other Indigenous Peoples from Oceania, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, the Arctic, and Indigenous Peoples of Europe for entry and legal residency across international borders.
5. The immediate arrest and prosecution of all federal administration officials and ICE officers who have committed crimes against humanity, broken federal, state, local, or international laws.
6. Abolish ICE and halt all funding related to ICE activities.
7. Return complete control of Greenland to the Inuit Peoples.

The time is now to organize and fight back before we reach the point of no return, and all our rights are dismantled under an authoritarian dictator leading a White Nationalist, racist, and fascist regime of terror! Protest, boycott, vote, organize, donate…do anything in your power to end this threat to humanity.

Andrew J. Jolivétte, is Professor of Sociology and Indigenous Studies at UC Santa Barbara, Adjunct Professor of Ethnic Studies at UC San Diego, and a Public Voices Fellow of the OpEd Project. His latest book, Research Justice: Methodologies for Social Change was published by Policy Press.