Illegal Immigrants Can Join Indian Tribes to Get Legal Status?

According to the National Congress of American Indians, some non federally recognized Indian tribes are actually charging illegal immigrants money to join their tribe, telling them that they can become legal citizens once in their tribe.

News about illegal immigrants has just been non stop lately. Between the continuing raids that lead to hundreds of illegal immigrants being deported back to their main lands to farmers having a certain number of days to get information from their workers who are mostly all illegal and do not have any documents to the United States could take, and now this? Apparently two known Indian tribes and probably several more are telling these illegal immigrants that they can get legal status by joining their tribes, and some prices are starting at just $50.

So is this scheme true? Can illegal immigrants become citizens by simply joining an Indian tribe? Of course not, it can not be that easy. Immigration authorities have repeatedly reported that tribe members have no protection because they are still illegal and if they get caught they will be deported. Immigration authorities are also angry about this new and ongoing process, saying that it both frauds illegal immigrants and sends them in the direction of false hope.

"You can't just decide to become a member of a tribe and all of a sudden legalize your status," said Marilu Cabrera, a spokeswoman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.