Stateless People Face Unique Challenges in the U.S.

The phrase “Go back to your country” is a common insult aimed at immigrants. However, for some, there is no country to return to. U.S. immigration law assumes everyone belongs somewhere. Stateless individuals highlight gaps in this assumption. My family sought asylum in the U.S. when I was eight. When our claim was denied, the Soviet Union had dissolved. The country on my birth certificate no longer existed. Ukraine did not recognize me as a citizen, leaving us without a place to return. Our story is not unique. Approximately 218,000 people in the U.S. are stateless.

Stateless individuals in the U.S. face precarious situations and limited legal remedies. Without passports, we lack proper identification, making everyday life challenging. Many can’t obtain driver’s licenses or state IDs, hindering our ability to drive, open bank accounts, lease homes, or fly domestically. Without a Social Security number, most job opportunities remain inaccessible, despite having qualifications. Professional licenses for teachers, nurses, and contractors are often unattainable for us. Traveling abroad is risky as we might not be allowed back in. Interactions with police, which are routine for many, can lead to prolonged detention due to lack of paperwork.

Despite these challenges, many stateless individuals have grown up in the U.S. We’ve attended schools, funded our education, earned degrees, purchased homes, married, and started families. This country is our home, even if we’re not considered citizens on paper. Stateless individuals are not invisible to the government. Most have filed for asylum or temporary statuses like Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or Temporary Protected Status. Some have obtained work authorization and have lived here for decades, regularly checking in with immigration officers. In severe cases, some have endured years, sometimes decades, in immigration detention because no country will accept them. Such treatment is inhumane, especially as the public witnesses conditions inside U.S. detention centers.

Statelessness has often been overlooked, but it gained attention during the birthright citizenship Supreme Court case. Families feared their newborns could become stateless if an executive order went forward. Fortunately, the Supreme Court upheld the 14th Amendment, preventing children from growing up without citizenship security. Congress now has an opportunity to introduce further protections by passing the Stateless Protection Act. This legislation would create a formal process for recognizing stateless status, which currently doesn’t exist in the U.S. It offers legal identification, a travel document, and work authorization to stateless individuals, protecting them from detention and deportation.

The Stateless Protection Act wouldn’t grant automatic citizenship, but it would allow individuals without a nationality, who have built their lives here, to live without fear. The U.S. has not signed two significant United Nations treaties on treating stateless individuals —the 1954 Convention, signed by 99 countries, and the 1961 Convention, signed by 82 countries. U.S. immigration laws reflect this oversight by not addressing statelessness. Passing the Stateless Protection Act would address one of the significant gaps in our immigration system, offering a sense of belonging to stateless individuals.

Karina Ambartsoumian-Clough is the co-founder and executive director of United Stateless.