126 2011 also marked the 60th Anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention, which was also addressed throughout the year and at the December 2011 Ministerial Meeting. See, e.g., UNHCR Intergovernmental meeting at Ministerial level: Closing remarks by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (8 December 2011) available at <http://www.unhcr. org/4ef094a89.html>. 127 Id. at 2. 128 U.S. Commemorations Pledges, Fact Sheet, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, December 7, 2011, available at <http://www.state.gov/j/prm/ releases/factsheets/2011/181020.htm>. Early in 2011, UNHCR provided “proposed pledges” that it urged the United States to consider adopting, with a focus on the protection gaps for refugees and asylum seekers. These proposed pledges also contain a section concerning stateless individuals in the United States. That document is available at: <http://www.unhcrwashington.org/site/c.ckLQI5NPIgJ2G/b.7794709/k.AA71/Priority_Pledges.htm>. 129 See supra FN 5. 130 The UNHCR Guidelines on Procedures for Determining Whether an Individual is a Stateless Person underscore the importance of establishing statelessness status determination procedures and provide guidance to states on doing so. UNHCR Guidelines on Statelessness No. 2: Procedures for Determining whether an Individual is a Stateless Person (5 April 2012), available at: <http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/ docid/4f7dafb52.html>. 131 Refugee Protection Act of 2010, S. 3113, 111th Cong. 2nd Session §24 (2010). This legislation was introduced in the Senate by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT). 132 Refugee Protection Act of 2011, S. 1202, 112th Cong. 1st Session (2011) (introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT)); Refugee Protection Act of 2011, H.R. 2185, 112th Cong. 1st Session (2011) (introduced by Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)) (collectively referred to as RPA). The RPA is a comprehensive set of measures promoting the rights and protections of refugees, asylum seekers, stateless individuals, and other persons of concern to UNHCR. While the majority of the bill addresses asylum and refugee issues, one of its 32 sections specifically addresses the protection of stateless persons in the United States. See S. 1202, 112th Cong. 1st Session §17, Protection of stateless persons in the United States. included language requesting a report to begin to understand the phenomenon of statelessness in the United States. See e.g., H.R. 72, 111th Cong. 1st Session (2009) (introduced by Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)). 134 RPA at §17 (b)(1). The language explicitly excludes persons who are inadmissible on certain criminal or security-related grounds, §17 (b)(1)(C) (referring to inadmissibility grounds under INA §212(a)(2), (3)); or are determined to be persecutors of others, §17 (b)(1)(E) (referring to INA §241(b)(3)(C)[sic](i)) and Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2010 S.3932, 11th Cong. §210A(b)(1)(D) (referring to INA §241(b)(3)(B)(i)). 135 RPA at §17 (c)(1) (stating that an individual is eligible to seek adjustment to lawful permanent resident status under this Act, if that individual, inter alia, has been physically present in the United States for at least five years after being granted conditional lawful status.) 136 RPA at §17 (c) (3) (stating that following adjustment to lawful permanent resident status under this Act, it shall be recorded as having been granted at the time lawful conditional resident status was first granted, thus satisfying the five-year period as a lawful permanent resident required to become eligible to seek naturalization as a United States citizen. 8 U.S.C. §1427(a). 137 RPA at §17 (b)(4). Providing work authorization is discretionary with DHS but, as with most applications that allow for a discretionary grant of work authorization, it is reasonable to assume that absent compelling reasons to the contrary, work authorization under this provision would be routinely granted. The RPA does not indicate whether the individual may continue to work once in conditional lawful status but given the intention and purposes of these provisions, it is a reasonable inference that it is intended that work authorization would continue to be provided throughout the conditional lawful status period. To ensure such intent is carried out, it would need to be made explicit in the statute or the regulations. 138 RPA at §17(b)(5). 139 RPA at §17(a)(1). 140 See, e.g., Politis v. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., 2009 WL 650879 (S.D. Tex. 2009) (noting that the individual in removal proceedings had renounced his Greek citizenship so as to complicate his removal). 133 Prior to 2010, legislation was introduced that Solutions for the Stateless in the U.S. 47