U.S.-born lacrosse players cleared to fly on Iroquois passports

[EmilyKent]

Some members of an Iroquois lacrosse team embroiled in a passport controversy have been cleared to get on a flight to the sport’s world championship in England – but only if they have been born in the United States.

“We just got off the phone with the U.S. State department, who are going to clear ... the players who are under their jurisdiction,” Percy Abrams, executive director of the Iroquois Nationals, said on Wednesday.

Since the U.S.-born players had been cleared, officials from the United Kingdom had promised to issue them a one-time visa, he said. However, whether the team’s Canadian-born players would be allowed to travel was still up in the air, he added.

“We are going to be making contact with the Canadian counterparts and hopefully they will offer the same,” he said.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/americas/us-born-lacrosse-players-cleared-to-fly-on-iroquois-passports/article1639866/

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Glad to see the State Department acting in the correct way.

[Karenina]

2. Indeed. This is BEYOND STOOPID. n/t

[Spazito]

3. The U.S. state department isn't confirming this at all...

From the same article:

However, a U.S. State Department official would not confirm whether the team would be allowed to travel on their Iroquois passports.

“The department stands ready to assist the Iroqois lacrosse team to obtain U.S. passports. Requiring the Iroqois lacrosse team to have U.S. passports is not a violation of treaty obligations...according to the U.S. Department of State,” said Darby Holliday, department spokesman, refusing to comment further.

and this:

The players regard U.S. government-issued documents as an attack on their identity.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. Are Iroquois passports recognized by any other nations as part of their daily business

Their flag is not recognized for maritime purposes.

[Spazito]

5. They have been in Canada and the U.S. until relatively recently....

as to other nations, I am going to assume members of the Iroquois nation have traveled to other countries using their Iroquois passports without problem and I make that assumption only because I think it would have been an issue had that not been the case and also because the Iroquois Nation team assumed they could travel on their passports.


Edited to add: Upon doing some digging, I found this article which states the Iroquois passport was accepted in other countries:

Iroquois Nation passports have worked for years, attorney says

snip

Heath said Haudenosaunee passports were honored as recently as this spring when Onondaga Nation Faithkeeper Oren Lyons and others visited Sweden on their Haudenosaunee passports. They met with the U.S. ambassador to Sweden Matthew W. Barzun. Barzun recounted the event in his online blog.

A Mohawk, Kenneth Deer, is in Switzerland with the United Nations right now on a Haudenosaunee passport, Heath said.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/07/iroquois_nation_passports_have.html