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 of quick implementation. In other words, the most desirable policy recommendation is not a legislative solution. The first thing to do is identify a stateless individual’s needs and what, if anything, is impeding that need. This Section will address the following needs of stateless individuals: 1) legal status; 2) release from psychological, emotional, and mental insecurity; 3) economic stability; and 4) freedom to travel. 1) Legal status Arguably, the biggest need of stateless individuals is legal status. Without legal status, they live in limbo without knowing whether they will be permitted to stay or face deportation to their countries of origin. 367 Their best hope for legal status in the United States is a grant of asylum. However, United States courts have consistently found that statelessness is not an independent ground for asylum. 368 Therefore, a stateless individual whose application for asylum is denied by USCIS is at the mercy of an Immigration Judge’s discretion and the Immigration Judge may not have a [wholistic or accurate]understanding of what it means to be stateless. 369 To combat this impediment, the DOJ should provide training to immigration judges and clerks on the determination of statelessness and its legal implications to hopefully increase the likelihood that a stateless individual may be granted asylum. This recommendation is practical because it does not require the passage of legislation and it works within the United States’ current immigration legal framework. 2) A release from psychological, emotional, and mental insecurity Stateless individuals are constantly under psychological, emotional, and mental pressures because of uncertainties in the future due to the lack of legal status and constant threat of deportation. 370 Many report feelings of depression, anxiety, and hopelessness. 371 Some feel powerless regarding their situation. 372 Some stateless individuals have to face these psychological challenges while coping with trauma resulting from persecution or violence in their home countries. 373 In these 367. KERWIN ET AL., supra note 183, at 70. 368. Citizens of Nowhere, supra note 3, at 18. 369. KERWIN ET AL., supra note 183, at 159. 370. Id. 371. Id. at 74. 372. Id. 373. Id. 397