Thread: Kaweah (fake Indian tribe) defendant to be deported

Kaweah defendant to be deported
BY RON SYLVESTER
The Wichita Eagle

The first defendant in the case of the so-called Kaweah Indian Tribe of Wichita was sentenced Tuesday to time already served in a county jail.

Federal prosecutors expect more defendants to follow former Wichita pastor Jamie Cervantes, in concluding their cases as the August trial of Kaweah leader Malcolm Webber approaches.

The scope of the case, meanwhile, keeps growing.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Wichita has received dozens of calls from at least 15 states reporting memberships sold to the fake Indian tribe.

Senior Special Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Robert Visnau has verified 10,000 to 15,000 people who have been affected by the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson said Tuesday.

"He gets phone calls from law enforcement, from people calling, saying 'We paid money for these memberships, but we never received them and our money is gone.' "

Cervantes, 45, was one of the people who purchased a membership under the false hope that it would give him permanent standing as a U.S. citizen -- even though he was already in the country legally on a work visa.

Now, Cervantes will be deported as a convicted felon and banned for life from legally returning to the United States.

In April, Cervantes pleaded guilty to one count of falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen while applying for a Social Security number in Wichita. As documentation, Cervantes had a certificate claiming membership in the Kaweah tribe -- a group the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs says is not legitimate.

U.S. Senior District Judge Wesley Brown ruled Cervantes had served enough time during his nine months in the Butler County Jail. As part of his guilty plea, Cervantes agreed not to fight deportation proceedings against him.

Roger Falk, Cervantes' lawyer, said the false citizenship claim would likely have netted him only six months in prison.

But when prosecutors charged Cervantes in September, they originally thought he was more deeply involved than he was, Falk said.

"He's more a victim in this than a witness," Falk said.

Cervantes, however, fit a profile prosecutors developed in the case against Webber, who some knew as Grand Chief Thunderbird IV.

Prosecutors say Webber used Hispanic churches to recruit members of his non-existent tribe, mostly illegal immigrants drawn by the false hope that certificates as American Indians would give them legal standing in this country.

"But my client never did that," Falk said. "He didn't spread the word. Once the government confirmed what he had told them, they offered the plea for time served."

Documents show Cervantes and his wife received two 10-year work visas for their ministry, first in Houston and then in Wichita. The visas were still in force when Cervantes was charged.

Cervantes knew Webber as a fellow pastor, Falk said.

"That's why he chose to believe something that was apparently too good to be true," Falk said.

Cervantes' wife and five of his eight children have already returned to Mexico, Falk said. Their other three children are U.S. citizens.

Meanwhile, Visnau has been receiving reports about the thousands of people who bought Kaweah memberships.

"Let me make this clear: There is no such Indian tribe," Anderson said.

Webber has said through his lawyers that he merely tried to help people and didn't sell the memberships. His lawyers argue that he, too, was taken advantage of, by associates who wanted to profit from the Kaweah name.

Records show Webber tried to get the Kaweah tribe recognized in the 1980s.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs said he couldn't prove his own American Indian heritage.
http://www.kansas.com/213/story/431131.html

Why didn't the anchor babies go back with their parents? We have to do something about anchors not returning with their parents.

Recall a year or so ago, a posting on this subject opined that being duped by these fake tribal groups is no justification for illegal aliens to come here. A number of Florida folks were deported and the investigation has run into the millions of dollars. Someday, we're gonna' realize this crap costs real money. And "Chief Thunderbird IV?" Puhleeze. Many Mexicans have claimed they own this land 'cuz our Native Americans were here first. Now comes evidence that the Europeans, aka Anglos, settled America 3,000 years before the Asian form of Native Americans. But we discover new stuff every day. Clearly, paying for tribal membership doesn't make one a citizen. Somehow, we too easily confer the honor of being a Native American, a la, Ward Churchill.