Issues Involving The Iroquois Nation And Their Passports

The subject of U.S. passports seems to be talked about on the news quite often these days and the Lacrosse Championships brought this issue to the forefront once again. The Iroquois lacrosse team was going to England to compete in the World Championship, but was denied entrance to the United Kingdom because they did not hold regular American or Canadian passports.

While other team members were from Canada and the United States, this team of Iroquois Native Americans is members of the Iroquois Nation. The Iroquois Nation has been issuing their own passports to call attention to the Iroquois culture and heritage. Since they did not have an American or Canadian passport, they were denied entrance into the United Kingdom and could not compete. They were saved at the last minute by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who issued a one-time waiver for the team so they could reenter the United States but the United Kingdom did not validate this waiver.

There are a few different views on this matter. More and more, countries are taking the position that they will only accept official passports issued from the United States or Canada because since these native Americans are citizens, they should use the documents used by other citizens. There is also a security problem with the Iroquois passport as they do not have the anti-fraud features that are present on the other passports. This could put other travelers at risk if these passports fall into the hands of the wrong person.

Those closely affect by this ruling feel singled out and prevented from expressing pride in their heritage. For years, the Iroquois passports have been acceptable for international travel and they don't understand why that should change now. They feel they are being alienated from the rest of the world and do not want to change their traditions or customs related to passports.

You many not realize that the game of lacrosse was actually invented by the Iroquois Indians long ago and the fact that their own passport is not being accepted and the team members must get a new passport quick to abide by the stricter regulations is demeaning. The coach of the team and others feel this is an attempt to quench the free expression of their native heritage and possibly causing them to be unable to compete in the National Championship of a sport that they created.