<http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4a7c0c352.html>.
115 Safad-Hamade v. Atty. Gen., 192 Fed.Appx. 917
(11th Cir. 2006).
116 8 CFR § 241.13(i).
117 This individual’s name has been changed to protect her privacy.
118 8 U.S.C. §1231(a)(3)
119 Under 8 CFR § 241.4(l)(2), designated immigration officials within DHS “have the authority, in the
exercise of discretion, to revoke release and return to
[immigration] custody an [individual] previously approved for release .... Release may be revoked in the
exercise of discretion when, in the opinion of the revoking official: ... (ii) The alien violates any condition
of release; ... or (iv) The conduct of the alien, or any
other circumstance, indicates that release would no
longer be appropriate.”) (emphasis added). See also
8 CFR § 241.13(i) (“Any alien who has been released
under an order of supervision under this section
who violates any of the conditions of release may
be returned to custody and is subject to the penalties described in section 243(b) of the Act. In suitable cases, the HQPDU shall refer the case to the appropriate U.S. Attorney for criminal prosecution. The
alien may be continued in detention for an additional
six months in order to effect the alien’s removal, if
possible, and to effect the conditions under which
the alien had been released.”).
120 See supra Mead Memo, FN 98.
121 This name was changed to protect the individual’s privacy.
122 8 CFR § 274a.12(c)(18). A grant of employment
authorization is discretionary upon consideration of
factors including economic necessity, existence of
dependents and length of time before removal.
123 The current fee for an employment authorization
document is $380, not including any additional associated costs such as photographs and postage. The
fee is set by the agency in its discretion and could be
increased at any time.
124 This is the same stateless woman described in
the Executive Summary of this report.
125 For example, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton underscored that promoting the eradication of
gender discrimination in nationality laws and preventing statelessness among women and children
are priorities of the United States:
…I want only briefly to mention...a particular prior-
46
ity for [the U.S. Government] and for me personally. It concerns one of the major causes of statelessness, which is discrimination against women.
At least 30 countries around the world prevent
women from acquiring, retaining, or transmitting citizenship to their children or their foreign
spouses. And in some cases, nationality laws strip
women of their citizenship if they marry someone from another country. Because of these discriminatory laws, women often can’t register their
marriages, the births of their children, or deaths
in their families. So these laws perpetuate generations of stateless people, who are often unable to work legally or travel freely. They cannot
vote, open a bank account, or own property, and
therefore they often lack access to healthcare
and other public services. And the cycle continues, because, without birth registration or citizenship documents, stateless children often cannot
attend school.
In this compromised state—or no state, better
put—women and children are vulnerable to abuse
and exploitation, including gender-based violence, trafficking in persons, and arbitrary arrests
and detention. That hurts not only the women
and their immediate families, but the larger communities. When you have a population of people
who are denied the opportunity to participate,
they cannot contribute.
The United States has launched an initiative to
build global awareness about these issues and
support efforts to end or amend such discriminatory laws. We want to work to persuade governments—not only officials but members of parliament—to change nationality laws that carry this
discrimination to ensure universal birth registration and establish procedures and systems to facilitate the acquisition of citizenship for stateless
people. I encourage other member-states to join
this effort, and I want to thank the High Commissioner, who has signaled his support. I encourage UNHCR to work with U.N. Women, UNICEF,
UNDP, and other U.N. partners to achieve equal
nationality rights for women.
Remarks at the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees Ministerial Meeting on the 60th Anniversary of the Refugee Convention, Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Geneva, Switzerland,
December 7, 2011, available at: <http://www.state.gov/
secretary/rm/2011/12/178406.htm>.
Citizens of Nowhere: