Dew, who studies the movement, says Moorish-Americans have long taken pride in being American citizens. But as the group splintered over the decades, some offshoots abandoned that view.

Members of Moorish sovereign citizen groups claim they are descended from Moors who predated white settlers in North America, and that they are part of a sovereign nation and not subject to U.S. laws.

The Moorish sovereign citizen movement emerged in the early 1990s as an offshoot of the anti-government sovereign citizens movement, and more specifically, the Moorish Science Temple of America ...