Image from UChicago Law School
Around the world, inter-state conflict, climate change, and other geopolitical factors have led to the forced displacement of millions of people, leaving them in a precarious legal situation. People become stateless due to a change of state sovereignty. One of the most significant cases was the separation of the Soviet Union, resulting in people being citizens of a country that no longer exists. Other situations resulting in statelessness include legal discrimination based on ethnicity, as can be seen with the Rohingya people in Myanmar, who have been denied citizenship since 1982. In addition, Palestinians are not recognized by the U.S. Department of State, making citizenship documents ordained by the Palestinian Authority invalid. A lack of recognition or sovereignty from their home countries makes it difficult for stateless refugees to gain legal standing or rights in any nation they enter. This condition is legally known as statelessness. The UN 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons defines a stateless person as “individuals who are not considered citizens or nationals under the operation of the laws of any country.” It is estimated that around 4.3 million people are stateless around the world, with 218,000 stateless people living in the United States, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The legal limbo of statelessness has become a nightmare for many people within the U.S., where the issue is a significant, yet often unnoticed, challenge. Lacking citizenship and legal documents from their countries of origin has made establishing a new life in the U.S. a challenge, leading to stateless people being denied the ability to work or have access to critical services, such as healthcare and housing. Without legal status, stateless people in the U.S. face deportation with no possibility to gain legal permanent status. Many stateless detainees in ICE detention centers have been noted to face indefinite incarceration, often ending in deportation to countries where they are not citizens. This indefinite detention, combined with the uncertainty of their future, takes a significant toll on the mental and emotional well-being of many stateless people. According to a study conducted by the Center for Migration Studies, many stateless people within the U.S. face declines in their mental health due to the stressors of daily life without legal documents. In many cases, children born to stateless parents in the U.S. inherit the same status, perpetuating a cycle of statelessness for generations.
In the United States, numerous stateless individuals don’t have the opportunity to establish their legal standing because both federal and state governments have not adequately recognized or defined statelessness. This has prompted numerous human rights organizations to advocate for the rights of stateless individuals, emphasizing the need for reform and more inclusive policies in state legislation. One of the most important organizations working for stateless people within the U.S. is United Stateless, which works to lobby for legislative reforms to recognize the legal rights of stateless people. The organization’s mission involves urging the national and state governments to establish a legal status for stateless people, as well as creating a pathway to citizenship for stateless people living without residence status. Moreover, United Stateless urges the establishment of special temporary work permits for stateless workers while their legal status is being resolved.
As of 2021, the Department of Homeland Security made the first move towards recognizing the existence of stateless residents in the U.S., announcing their “commitment to adopt a definition of statelessness for immigration purposes and enhance protections for stateless individuals.” This was the first time a federal agency recognized the legal challenges presented by stateless people, offering the first definition offering legal protection for people with a stateless status. This month, the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a policy recommendation manual for stateless noncitizens to file their legal status for a path towards a guaranteed legal status, including accommodations for missing documents and describes the process for defining stateless status for immigration offices.
In a PBS NewsHour documentary, the executive directors of United Stateless shared their experiences living in America as stateless people. The first, an Ethiopian-Eritrean man named Miliyon Ethiopis became stateless when Ethiopian authorities tortured him because of his Eritrean ethnicity and confiscated his passport in his attempt to flee the country. Ethiopis now lives in Maryland, where he is able to obtain a driver’s license due to the state allowing undocumented drivers to obtain one. He tries to retain some form of normalcy but notes, “We always try to maintain, like do normal things, what Americans asking, go to work, pay tax, be a good citizen, no criminal, nothing. And we go back. We pay taxes and everything. But, at the end of the day, you don’t get anything back.”
Likewise, Karina Ambartsoumian-Clough fled Ukraine due to violent discrimination against her Armenian ethnicity and arrived in Canada where she was denied a legal status. When she came to the U.S. in hopes of being granted asylum, she became stateless due to the regional collapse of the Soviet Union. She recounts, “I remember we were also advised to go to the Ukrainian embassy to retrieve travel documents. I remember being told, like, sorry, we don’t recognize you as a citizen.” Ambartsoumian-Clough was able to obtain DACA status and became married to an American citizen, however, she does not have a viable path to citizenship due to her statelessness. “Not being a citizen of any country in the world limits you for your access to your human rights. Without having a country that recognizes me, I don’t have any laws that protect me. There’s no embassy I can go to. I don’t have access to travel documents. I don’t have a passport,” Ambarthosoumian-Clough stated.
These individual stories not only echo the shared struggles of stateless people living in our country but underscore the pressing need for changes in legislation and policies aimed at helping people with stateless status. Despite some progress, the current national legal framework remains insufficient in addressing the unique needs and vulnerabilities of stateless people.