Indian sovereignty

Yes, this deviates from the usual mommy stuff, but it's big in the news up here and I've been thinking a lot about this.
If you don't know about the Iroquois Lacrosse team issues, here's a link to tell you more about the issue Iroquois Lacrosse issue, but to cut to the chase: the team from the Iroquois Nation was invited to compete in an international competition. The US Initially refused to honor their Iroquois nation passports and would deny them re-entry into the US on the way home, which led the UK to deny them visitor visas. As such, they could not compete in a competition in a sport that they invented thousands of years ago!

This all boiled down to recognizing the Iroquois Nation as a sovereign nation with recognition for their documents that equal passports. While I understand that the US and Canada have both offered to issue passports to the Iroquois people, the Iroquois are recognized as being separate from both countries, especially since both countries have reservations along the border.
Do I understand the need for more security for both nations, and more technologically advanced passports? Yes. However, I also feel that there could have been an alternative presented to help the Iroquois nation preserve their rights and freedoms as a sovereignty and keep up with security advances.
Why not have the security administration work with a liaison for the Iroquois nation in creating new passports that recognize the sovereignty status and still have the security encryptions needed for travel in the world. While it may be seen as some as an invasion of the Government to try and take over the Iroquois, perhaps there is a way to show how it can preserve the sovereignty status.

Maybe I'm naive, but it just seems like a lot of Sturm und Drang over something that can easily be rectified.