Wichita ? Like other area ministers, the Rev. Francisco Aguirre is trying to quell the fears of immigrants in his flock who bought Kaweah Indian Nation memberships believing they would then be U.S. citizens.

Aguirre, pastor of Iglesia Cristiana Redempcion in Wichita, also is allegedly a victim himself.

Aguirre is a legal U.S. resident, but he’s not an American citizen. He said he bought tribal memberships for himself, his family and members of his congregation, anticipating they would automatically make them U.S. citizens. He said about 30 people in his congregation paid $80 each for memberships.

It turns out the federal government does not recognize the Kaweah Indian Nation as an American Indian tribe, and the tribal memberships did not make the buyers U.S. citizens, which would allow them to get driver’s licenses, Social Security cards and other documents.

False hope

Last week, government agents seized thousands of documents from the Wichita offices of Kaweah Indian Nation. Prosecutors allege the group recruited thousands of immigrants nationwide with false promises.

Malcolm L. Webber, also known as Grand Chief Thunderbird IV, was charged Friday with attempting to defraud the federal government, harboring illegal immigrants and possession of false identification documents with intent to defraud the United States.

“What I can practically say is, if he lied then he will have that on his conscience, and the law will judge him,” Aguirre told The Associated Press on Tuesday, speaking in Spanish. “If he did not lie, then the law will exonerate him.”

Webber had not yet retained an attorney, and his family declined to comment Tuesday. No one answered the phone at tribal headquarters.

In an interview the week before the raid, the tribe’s spokesman, Manuel Urbina, denied the tribe promised illegal immigrants that they could not be deported, telling them only that their memberships gave them identification and certificates they can show officials as proof they are tribe members. Urbina said the memberships cost $50 for individuals and $100 for families.

He also said the Kaweah Indian Nation was recognized as a tribe by the state of Nevada – a claim that the Nevada Indian Commission later said was untrue. Nevada has no separate state recognition process for American Indian tribes.

Immigrants afraid

Pastors said immigrants are now worried that agents have found their names and addresses among the papers taken from the tribe’s offices. Some are so worried that they planned to move, the ministers said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson said last week that prosecutors would look at prosecutions of illegal immigrants on a case-by-case basis, noting many had no criminal intent when they tried to obtain the documents.

That provided some comfort to the Rev. Abraham Arevalo, pastor of Iglesia Bautista Nueva Vida and president of the Hispanic ministerial alliance, which met Monday night to discuss the matter. He said illegal immigrants are panicked and pastors are trying to figure out how to help them with their fears.

“Somebody just tipped their hopes very high, and now it seems to be not really true. It is very, very hard for a lot of them – more hard than a lot of people can imagine,” Arevalo said. “Some people were really excited about the possibility of having some documentation here – and it was not true.”

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement spokesman Carl Rusnok said he could not directly discuss the ongoing investigation. But he did say many of the tribe’s members were legal residents who were trying to obtain citizenship.

The Rev. Jesse Hernandez, pastor of Cristo Vive Asamblea de Dios in Wichita, said that while some people in his congregation bought the memberships, the tribe never approached him.

“We feel heavy and burdened for all these people who believed this lie,” he said. “In my heart, I was hoping somehow it was possible for the people’s sake, but I kind of knew that it was not. I feel bad for all these people that they had had some hope.”