politics | treaty breakage part eleventybillion (Reply)

via shakesville

The Iroquois invented Lacrosse

And for teh past couple of days, the US gov't saw fit to violate their sovereignty by refusing them to allow them travel to the World Chamopionship being held in Britain on Iroquois Passports. HELLO treaty breakage part elventybillion!

Update: Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team heads to airport, still awaiting word from State Department

NEW YORK — Members of an Iroquois lacrosse team who refuse to travel on U.S. passports were barred from getting on a flight Tuesday to the sport's world championship tournament because of a dispute over their passports.

The 23 members of the New York-based squad arrived at a Delta terminal at Kennedy International Airport wearing team jackets and shirts. Their manager, Ansley Jemison, didn't expect to be allowed to board their flight to Amsterdam and wasn't surprised to be turned away at the check-in desk.

U.S. officials previously informed the team that new security rules for international travelers meant that their old passports — low-tech, partly handwritten documents issued by a tribal authority — wouldn't be honored.

But by showing up, the team avoided forfeiting its tickets. The airline allowed the squad to rebook its flight for Wednesday without penalty. Team officials remained hopeful that a last-minute diplomatic intervention would allow them to attend the World Lacrosse Championship, which is taking place in England.

Jemison said he was confident tribal leaders could work out an arrangement with the U.S. State Department, get the necessary visas from the United Kingdom and make it in time for their first game, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Manchester.

"Things are looking very good," he said, although he added, "We are on a crunch deadline."

The Iroquois previously have traveled using passports issued by the Iroquois Confederacy. But the U.S. government says that, unlike U.S. passports, the Iroquois passports aren't acceptable under new, stricter immigration rules. The players won't accept U.S. government-issued documents because they see them as an attack on their identity.

The British government, meanwhile, won't give the players visas if they cannot guarantee they'll be allowed to go home.

Several lawmakers have urged the State Department to find a way to allow the team to travel but the department said there had not yet been a resolution to the case.MORE

Transcript of the fuckery that is the press briefing by the Justice Dept.

QUESTION: Does the United States still recognize the validity of Iroquois nation passports as valid travel documents?

MR. CROWLEY: For those who --

QUESTION: I appreciate the smile, but I’m sure that the lacrosse team that’s trying to get to Britain right now doesn't appreciate it.

MR. CROWLEY: The lacrosse team that’s trying to get to Britain to play in the World Lacrosse Championship – we are earnestly trying to help them. But given the more stringent standards that we’ve applied to travel in and out of the region through the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, for one to travel to and then return from a country – other countries, you will need a U.S. passport. We are standing by to help the team get its passports on an expedited basis, and this is something that we continue to talk to them about.

QUESTION: Well, they don’t consider themselves to be citizens of the United States and --

MR. CROWLEY: I understand that.

QUESTION: And in fact, there are treaty obligations that you have that would seem to be – you would seem to be violating them by not allowing them to travel on their own passports, particularly if they meet the standard to be accepted. I know that there were negotiations with the previous administration about --

MR. CROWLEY: But again, what you’re talking about here is whether other countries will accept --

QUESTION: The Brits have said that they are only looking for assurances from the U.S. Government that these people will be allowed back into the country.

MR. CROWLEY: We stand by ready to help --

QUESTION: But you stand by ready to help them get U.S. passports. They do not accept – they don’t want that privilege.

MR. CROWLEY: I understand that.

QUESTION: So you don’t see this as a violation of treaties that go back to the 1600s?

MR. CROWLEY: I’m not willing to go through a 400-year legal process here.

MORE

Today, the US US decided to issue a one-time waiver . Now they are waiting on the British to issue visas.

(Is it bad of me to laugh loudly and long at this headline from Alternet? I'm thinking that if one were to look at what happened to The Native Americans, to say nothing of the Filipinos and Hawaiians and the whole Cold war mess...America became an Empire a very very long time ago.)