Kansas U.S. attorney says tribe being investigated

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By OSKAR GARCIA / The Associated Press

OMAHA — The U.S. attorney in Kansas is investigating a non-federally recognized American Indian tribe for recruiting thousands of Hispanic illegal immigrants by telling them that joining will keep them from being deported.

For as little as $50 per membership, tribes promise documents that bestow legal status — enough to get illegal immigrants out of trouble when approached by federal agents.

But immigration advocates and federal officials say the practice may defraud illegal immigrants out of thousands of dollars and giving them false hope.

In Nebraska, some people reported paying up to $1,200 to join the Kaweah Indian Nation, according to Angel Freytez of the Nebraska Mexican-American Commission.

The federal investigation in Kansas was spurred after two Mexicans were indicted for allegedly trying to get U.S. passports and Social Security cards by claiming to be members of the Kaweah tribe.

Angel O. Zamora, 38, and Eduviges del Carmen Zamora, 44, both were charged with making false claims of U.S. citizenship, making false statements on applications for a Social Security cards and passports and having false documents with intent to defraud the United States. They were arraigned on Wednesday.

Now the U.S. attorney in Kansas is investigating the Wichita, Kan.-based Kaweah Indian Nation, which has sold at least 10,000 tribal memberships to illegal immigrants in several states, according to Manuel Urbina, the tribe’s high chief.

Urbina has said his group sells membership for about $50 per person and has never asked immigrants for thousands of dollars.

According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs within the Department of the Interior, the Kaweah group was denied federal recognition in 1985 because it was not a real tribe.

A Kaweah tribe did exist once but is not related to the one that applied for federal recognition, said John Dossett, a lawyer for the Washington-based National Congress of American Indians.

“That group is just a total sham,” Dossett said. “You know those e-mails you get from the guy who claims to be related to the Nigerian royalty and he wants you to loan him money? I think it’s the same kind of deal, it’s just a scam.”

Jim Cross, a spokesman for the Kansas U.S. attorney, said Wednesday that the office was investigating the tribe for possible fraud, but would not provide details.

Officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Social Security Administration and the Department of State were also involved in investigating the Kaweah, he said.

The wife of a Grand Island pastor said the church canceled a trip scheduled for last week to Wichita to allow church members to join the tribe after being told the offer was a potential scam.

“I don’t know who has the truth,” said Idalia Urbina, who did not identify her church or its location for fear of exposing illegal immigrants. “We believe that maybe they are doing something good, but I think the government is trying to say it is a fraud because they don’t want people to receive documents.”

Idalia Urbina said some church members were still pursuing tribal memberships, figuring they had no other route to legal residency in the United States.