ARE LOCAL OPERATORS USING YAMASSEE TRIBE FOR IMMIGRATION?

ARE LOCAL OPERATORS USING YAMASSEE TRIBE FOR IMMIGRATION?
By Juan Montoya

Immigrant rights activists and attorneys are warning local non-citizens who are seeking to legalize their status against what they say is a scam by some people saying they  represent a South Carolina Indian (Native American) tribe that will allow them to gain citizenship into the United States.

Several complaints have been filed with the Mexican Consulate in Brownsville saying the operators who say they are representatives of an alleged Yamassee Tribe and  have charged them a $2,500 fee for naturalization documents stating that they have become members of the tribe and therefore are eligible to remain in this country legally.

Additionally, the complainants say they are asked to pay a monthly $50 fee to keep their case active.

One is that of a woman who said she believed the promises of the operators and paid the fees.

"I was desperate for a way to "fix" my papers and I believed what they told me," she said.

"I started asking around and found out that I could find nothing that said that the Yamassee Tribe was a legitimate outfit," said another one. "Their office is in a carpet and flooring installation shop."

Attempts to contact the owner of the establishment and gain an interview were met with refusal because he – one Humberto Reveles – said he was prevented from giving interviews without the approval of the tribal legal counsel.

When a local television station contacted the tribal judge in South Carolina, he demanded that the request for an interview be submitted in writing, arguing that the immigration functions of his tribe are legitimate and based on the U.S. Constitution.

Those persons who have acquired the tribes naturalization documents say they are usually sent to the applicants within four six weeks and that once they arrive, they will be accompanied by a tribal member past the federal checkpoints.

Jaime Diez, an immigration lawyer, warned the unwary against falling for the scam saying that many of them fall for the scheme because they are sent a phony U.S. Naturalization document with their picture.

"They are doing that because they know people who have no alternative to immigrate legally are desperate," he said.

We investigated the Yamasse tribe and found that they are not a federally recognized tribe. A list of the federally-recognized tribes on record in the U.S. Department of Interior does not list the Yamasse.

Lt. Steven Robinson with the Allendale County Sheriff's Office, in South Carolina, said that there had been a question of the tribe's legitimacy vis-avis the federal government and that there had been no record found.
"They're not recognized as an Indian tribe," said Robinson, who says he got the information from experts in Washington, D.C. "They have also not even applied for the recognition as an Indian tribe."
Even if they were, experts say, a tribe cannot "adopt" a non-Indian if he or she does not meet the blood quotient through descendants on the tribal rolls. The tribe's own webpage states that "to qualify for Tribal Enrollment membership with the Yamassee Indian Tribe of South Carolina,Georgia, Florida and California (Yamassee Nation) applicants must have biological descent from one or more persons named on the tribe’s base rolls or a Inter married Tribe historically connected to the Yamassee, surname still needs to be listed on the Tribes base roll ."
Neither can the Yamassee Tribe give membership to non-Indians that would allow them to travel or live freely in the Americas.
Brownsville Mexican Subconsul Sergio Jacobo said that that those seeking to improve their immigration status should not fall for the scam and go to a legitimate immigration lawyer instead.
Diez said that not only could those paying for the fake naturalization papers lose their money, but that could also face federal charges, deportation, and prison sentences of up to 20 years.
Since the case remains active, consulate and immigration attorneys say that the details have been kept under warps but that law enforcement agencies may soon act to stop the operations of the perpetrators. There are precedents for the arrest and prosecution of people using Indian Tribes to sell phony immigration documents to undocumented victims.
(After this post was published, we received an Email which stated: SMEAR CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE YAMASSEE MUSCOGEE CREEK TRIBE
People seeking tribal enrollment are advised to understand, and know that:
1. The US Constitution is the supreme law of the United States according to Article VI, section 2. This supreme law, in Article 1, section 8, clause 4 states that "Congress shall have the power to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization,. . . ." Notice that it does not say "Law."
2. Yamassee Muscogee Creek Nation is a federally recognized tribe and a tribe that has a treaty relationship with the United States (Treaty of Camp Holmes, 24 August 1835). This treaty has not been canceled, voided, vacated, annulled or extinguished. Treaties are considered part of the supreme law of the land according to Article VI, section 2 of the U.S. Constitution.
3. Immigration is a sensitive issue because Europeans who first "discovered" the New World had no passports or visas. Extensive research evidences the fact that no such travel documents existed to permit their adventures, explorations and discoveries of a native population living peacefully in a state of nature. This could be why Article 1, section 8, clause 4 mentions a "Rule" of naturalization. Whi do you think the illegal and undocumented aliens are starting with Columbus, De Soto, Coronado, Balboa, etc….
4. "Illegal immigrants" are allowed to practice law in the State of California.
5. Legal counsel for the Tribe challenge anyone anytime for a live television neutral debate to put this matter to rest. The debate must be neutral and fair not biased towards the government or special interest groups.
6. The 5th and 14th Amendments provide constitutional guarantees even for "illegal immigrants."
The philosophy of the First Amendment is that man must have full freedom to search the world for and the universe for the answers to the puzzles of life . . Unless the horizons are unlimited, we risk being governed by a set of prejudices of a bygone day. If we are restricted in art, religion, economics, political theory or any other great field of knowledge, we may become victims of conformity in an age where salvation can be won only only by nonconformity.)