The Iroquois lacrosse players who refused to travel on passports issued by the U.S. and Canada are set to travel overseas next year, and this time around they will be using newly issued passports the Onondaga Nation says will meet "every international security measure" currently in place.
Oren Lyons of The Onondaga Nation tells CNYcentral the Nation has spent $1.5 million to upgrade the Confederacy-issued passports.
The upgrades to meet strict security guidelines put in place after the 9/11 terror attacks were not ready in time to allow the team to fly to the United Kingdom to compete in the World Lacrosse Championship Games. The team, including 5 players from Central New York, returned from New York City over the weekend.
The Onondaga Nation says the team is due overseas again next May at the Lacrosse Championships in the Czech Republic and plans to use the new passports for that trip. The Nation developed the new passports with the Siemens Corporation, which is doing work on them in Germany.
