Vol. 15, Iss. 2 Northeastern University Law Review 369 considering statelessness as a discretionary factor is a crucial step—in the absence of legislation—that would provide a durable legal status. I. Stateless People and Legal Protections in the United States This Part provides background on statelessness and the experiences of stateless people in the United States. Part I.A provides the definition of statelessness from the 1954 Convention and common causes of statelessness globally. Part I.B describes hardships that stateless people in the United States often face. Part I.C explains that the United States does not provide immigration relief to stateless people by virtue of their statelessness, leaving stateless people to rely on general constitutional or statutory provisions and leaving many with no access to immigration relief. A. Statelessness: The Basics The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons defines a stateless person as someone “who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law.”20 Governments commonly do not apply their nationality laws as written. Further, it is common that additional laws, regulations, or practice “under the operation of its law” mean that a person who is covered by a nationality law in principle is still not recognized as a national.21 Under the 1954 Convention definition, it is the potential state of nationality’s determination that is definitive.22 20 21 22 1954 Convention art. 1, ¶ 1, supra note 1. Id. art. 1(1); UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons 12 ¶ 22 (2014), https://www.unhcr.org/dach/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2017/04/CHUNHCR_Handbook-on-Protection-of-Stateless-Persons.pdf (“The reference to ‘law’ in [the definition of statelessness] should be read broadly to encompass not just legislation, but also ministerial decrees, regulations, orders, judicial case law (in countries with a tradition of precedent) and, where appropriate, customary practice.”); Fisher, Operation of Law, supra note 14, at 274, 278–87 (describing ways in which state practice may vary from nationality laws as written); Fisher, Gender Discrimination, supra note 14, at 311 (discussing how gender discrimination in nationality law as well as in family, civil registration, and criminal law, creates a risk of statelessness). One of the drafters of the Convention, Mr. Voigt of the Federal Republic of Germany, noted that “[n]o country of residence could dispute the declaration a country of origin that it had deprived a person of his nationality. The status of such a person was clear.” The Travaux Préparatoires of the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Statelessness Persons 104, 107–10 (Betsy L. Fisher, ed.,