Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law 53 (2021)
Ghosts in America: Working
Towards Building a Legal
Framework for Stateless
Individuals in the United States
Asako Ejima *
Abstract
There are “ghosts” living in the United States. These “ghosts” are
stateless individuals who have no nationality and live without the
protections of any State. These individuals pose an intractable problem
for the countries where they live and the international community.
While these individuals are not entitled to live in a country under that
country’s immigration laws, they cannot be removed from that country
because other countries are unwilling to take them. This presents both
a political problem for the country where they live and a human
problem for the stateless individual. On one hand, countries waste time
and resources trying to remove stateless individuals. On the other hand,
without a country willing to take them in, these stateless individuals
are left in “limbo” and without basic access to health care, civil rights,
welfare, and housing. Consequently, they are incredibly vulnerable to
exploitation. It is crucial to protect these communities and facilitate
their access to the basic necessities that most of us take for granted.
Policy recommendations that accommodate their most immediate needs
will be the most effective in providing them with that relief.
Table of Contents
Abstract ......................................................................................... 357
Table of Contents.......................................................................... 357
Introduction ................................................................................... 358
Part One: Understanding Statelessness........................................ 364
A) Causes of Statelessness .......................................................................... 364
1) State succession ............................................................................... 365
2) Arbitrary denial or deprivation of nationality ................................ 365
3) Technical causes .............................................................................. 366
B) Consequences of Statelessness ............................................................... 367
C) International legal framework protecting stateless individuals ............. 368
Part Two: International Responses to Statelessness .................. 370
A) The UNHCR’s #IBelong Campaign ..................................................... 371
*
J.D. Candidate, 2021, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School
of Law.
357