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There is ZERO linguistic, genetic, or anthropological evidence to support such a claim. I'll make a guess and posit that, in the intervening years as people have discovered this, the claim will have been modified to say, well, yes, they were here, but they were since replaced without a trace by those we now call the American Indian.

good points aruanan, will add:

1. Correct -- no linguistic evidence -- none of the Amerindian tribal languages have any of the contours or nuances of Semitic languages
2. Genetic -- none of the native Americans have any of the distinctive Jewish Haplogroups -- in contrast Jews that lived in India for 2500+ years still retained those genetic markers, as did a tribe in East Africa that had long forgotten much of it's judaism, just kept a few practises. There are no Jewish/Israelite genetic markers among the native Americans
3. Anthropological -- as noted above, there was an East AFrican tribe that still retained some traces of Israelite practise distinctive enough from it's neighbours. In contrast, amongst the native Americans, none had any distinctive related-to-Jewish practises, none, not one.
4. Even if they say that these "semites" were 'replaced' by Amerindians, there should be SOME Archaeological proof for this period, right? Semites of 700 BC had a distinctive and "higher" culture than the USA-based Amerindians and it was completely distinctive from Mayans and Central Americans. They had different "technologies" -- the wheel for example, they had different methods of using structures that were common in the old world and unknown in the new world. And there is none of this found in pre-Columbine America
5. There should still be "historical" traces -- stories passed down in Amerindian tribes that they replaced earlier inhabitants. Even the Irish have this in their myths, yet no trace of this in Amerindian tales
6. There would still be some genetic proof -- you'd expact a stray person to marry into a native American tribe, yet there is none

Finally, how would the Mormon group explain to the native Americans they've been telling "you're descended from Lamanites or Nephites" to "sorry, your ancestors replaced Lamanites and Nephites" -- ouch...

There is ZERO linguistic, genetic, or anthropological evidence to support such a claim.

Whaddya mean "no evidence"!?

These "Caractors" are the only tangible evidence in existence related to Smith's story.

No gold plates, no brass plates, no peep stones, no Urim and Thummim... only these "Caractors," not a single one of which is in the purported languages.

Smith's translation of the Caractors. According to Martin Harris (Joseph Smith - History, 1:64), "I went to the city of New York, and presented the characters which had been translated, with the translation thereof, to Professor Charles Anthon, a gentleman celebrated for his literary attainments. Professor Anthon stated that the translation was correct, more so than any he had before seen translated from the Egyptian. I then showed him those which were not yet translated,* and he said they were Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic; and he said they were true characters."

Speak right up now in all truthfulness. Isn't it revealing how Smith started out making a stab at creating believable "caractors" but quckly gave up and produced nothing but squiggles, ending up wih a series of nothing more than crude little scribbles? Yet Professor Anthon supposedly translated them!

*Harris must have had two or three pieces of paper with him—one with characters and a translation of them (on the same paper or a separate one) and one with untranslated characters—quite likely the "Caractors." Some Mormon "scholars" have gone out on a limb, sawed it off, and knocked themselves out trying to translate from these true Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic characters a segment that would correspond with a verse from 1 Nephi.

Modern-day experts in Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic. In 1829, any knowledge of these languages possessed by U.S. scholars would have been rudimentary at best. Expertise in them has vastly improved since then. So go ahead, do it. Get any modern expert in these languages to identify which of these "Caractors" are Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac and Arabic. Better still, accept the claim of Mormon apologists that Anthon did indeed so testify and that his appraisal of the Caractors was correct. (Op. cit, pp. 73-75)

Save your money! Samples of Assyriac/Aramaic and Arabic writing:

What say you? Which of Smith's "Caractors" resemble the Assyriac and Arabic ones? No need to pay experts for their analysis. A child could accurately check this out. These writing systems have remained constant for well over 3000 years.