Texas goes after American Indian tribe's alleged immigration scheme

The Associated Press
Published: August 21, 2007

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/ ... Tribes.php

HARLINGEN, Texas: An American Indian tribe not recognized by the U.S. government sold memberships to illegal immigrants in a fraudulent scheme that promised protection from U.S. immigration laws, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott alleged Tuesday.

In announcing Monday's filing of a civil lawsuit against the Kaweah Indian Nation Inc. of Kansas, Abbott's office said the group took up to $400 (€296) each from an unknown number of immigrants for the guarantee of a U.S. identification number and a "Certificate of Citizenship" card that brought protection from deportation proceedings.

The tribe told immigrants the card also would be good for U.S. citizenship if the Kaweah nation gained federal recognition as an Indian tribe, Abbott said.

The lawsuit seeks to stop what he alleges to be misleading recruitment and calls for a fine of up to $20,000 (€14,806) for each violation under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

"In reality, the card is legally ineffective and does not alter the purchaser's immigration status," Abbott said.

Abbott's lawsuit came amid reports that the tribe had complaints against it from at least five states and was being investigated by a U.S. attorney in Kansas.

Last week, the tribe's secretary, a woman from El Salvador, and her Guatemalan husband were charged in Kansas with federal immigration violations in what prosecutors called a multistate immigration scam.

U.S. immigration authorities have said becoming a member of a tribe gives no protection against deportation. A lawyer for the Washington-based National Congress of American Indians has called the Kaweahs "a total sham."

The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs denied the Kaweah group recognition in 1985 because it was not a real tribe. A Kaweah tribe did exist once, but is unrelated to the one that applied for recognition.

The Kaweah Indian Nation said it was unaware of the lawsuit until contacted by The Associated Press at the tribe's Wichita headquarters.

"I know a lot of it is a misunderstanding because we are not doing anything wrong," said Jennifer Middlebrook, the daughter of Malcolm L. "Grand Chief Thunderbird IV" Webber, who also serves as the tribe's secretary of records. "Everything we are doing here is legal and to benefit everybody in the tribe."

She referred further comment to Manuel Urbina, the tribe's spokesman and high chief. He did not immediately return a phone message Tuesday.

In an interview Monday, before the Texas filing became public, Urbina said the tribe is not really telling illegal immigrants that they cannot be deported, but giving them identification and a certificate that they can show officials as proof they are members of the tribe.

"There is nothing to hide. ... I wouldn't be doing it if it was illegal," Urbina said.

Abbott spokesman Tom Kelley said it was unclear how many violations there were in Texas or how many people had joined the tribe.

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Associated Press Writer Roxana Hegeman in Wichita, Kansas, contributed to this report.