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
theoretically possible based on this clause, 312 there is simply not enough
unclaimed land in the North American continent to build a new state
large enough to hold enough people to solve the statelessness problem.313
Consequently, the only way for a new state to be created and added to
the United States is if one or some of the current 50 states gave up part
of their land for the creation of a new state of stateless individuals.314
That would require consent from the legislatures of those states as well
as Congress. 315
This proposal is the least desirable solution because of its
unlikeliness due to the logistical complexity of implementation and the
low possibility of popular and political support. Even if there was
enough state cooperation to free up enough land to create a “51st” state
for stateless individuals, there are substantial logistical considerations
that would make this project difficult to actuate. The stateless
population in the United States is ethnically diverse and geographically
spread out. 316 Stateless individuals in the United States range from
former Soviet citizens, ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijanis, Romas,
Syrians, Palestinians, Nepalis, Rohingyas, Hmongs, and many other
ethnic groups from all over the world. 317 These stateless individuals live
in states all across the country including California, New York, Texas,
Ohio, Minnesota, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, and
Virginia. 318 This creates two concerns. The first concern is how to
identify the stateless individuals that would make up the new state.
The stateless population is difficult to identify in United States
government data and more broadly in United States society because no
government entity makes statelessness determinations or systematically
collects information on stateless populations. 319 Additionally, the
United States lacks a path for stateless persons to register or secure
312. The Annenberg Guide to the United States Constitution: Article IV,
Section 3, ANNENBURG CLASSROOM,
https://www.annenbergclassroom.org/article-iv-section-3/
[https://perma.cc/AB53-5J93].
313. See generally Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration,
Statelessness, U.S. DEP’T OF STATE, https://www.state.gov/otherpolicyissues/statelessness/#:~:text=How%20Many%20Stateless%20People%20
Are,10%20million%20due%20to%20underreporting
[https://perma.cc/925N-KFWX].
314. See Sasi, supra note 308, at 6.
315. The Annenberg Guide to the United States Constitution, supra note 312.
316. See KERWIN ET AL., supra note 183 at 40–54.
317. See id.
318. See id. at 54.
319. Id. at 6.
391