Vol. 15, Iss. 2 Northeastern University Law Review 365 Introduction International law defines a stateless person as someone who is “not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law”1 Henry is a stateless person who survived the Holocaust and, now in his 80s, lives in Maryland.2 As a young child at the conclusion of World War II, Henry moved with his family to the United States under a humanitarian immigration program, but Henry lost his legal status due to a conviction in 1967 for which he was pardoned in 2022.3 The conviction led Henry to experience decades of uncertain immigration status in the United States.4 Miliyon is another undocumented stateless person in the United States whose lack of legal status causes constant anxiety. Despite having a driver’s license, he makes sure not to drive fast or at night, lest he be apprehended and sent to immigration detention.5 Henry and Miliyon’s experiences of uncertainty and economic hardship are shared by tens of thousands of stateless people in the United States.6 This Article argues that positive exercises of discretion in U.S. immigration processes can partially address the humanitarian needs of stateless people in the United States. In December 2021, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced that the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) would adopt a definition of statelessness for immigration purposes and take measures to improve the status of stateless people in the United States.7 As an announcement from an 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons art. 1, ¶ 1, Sept. 28, 1954, 360 U.N.T.S. 117 [hereinafter 1954 Convention art. 1, ¶ 1]. Lou Chibbaro Jr., California Guv Pardons Md. Man for 1967 Gay Sex Conviction, Washington Blade (July 14, 2022), https://www.washingtonblade.com/ 2022/07/14/california-guv-pardons-md-man-for-1967-gay-sex-conviction/; Libor Jany, Newsom Pardons Sara Kruzan, Imprisoned as a Teen for Killing Man who Trafficked Her, Yahoo News (July 2, 2022), https://www.yahoo.com/video/ newsom-pardons-sara-kruzan-imprisoned-030302533.html. Chibbaro Jr., supra note 2. Id. Stephanie Sy & Lena I. Jackson, Hundreds of Thousands of Stateless People are Living in Legal Limbo in the U.S., PBS NewsHour (Apr. 5, 2022), https://www.pbs.org/ newshour/show/hundreds-of-thousands-of-stateless-people-are-living-in-legallimbo-in-the-u-s. Ctr. for Migration Stud., Statelessness in the United States: A Study to Estimate and Profile the US Stateless Population 2, 4, 70–74 (2020) (noting that an estimated 218,000 people in the United States are stateless or at risk of statelessness, and often experience economic and psychological hardship). DHS Announces Commitment to Enhance Protections for Stateless Individuals in the United States, Dep’t of Homeland Sec. (Dec. 15, 2021), https://www.dhs.gov/ news/2021/12/15/dhs-announces-commitment-enhance-protections-stateless-