UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Statelessness in America A 2020 study of statelessness in America found that the number of people who are stateless or at risk of statelessness was much higher and more diverse than previously understood.cxxxiii According to the Center for Migration studies, as of early 2020 there were an estimated 218,000 stateless people residing in the United States (US), but noted that precise estimates of numbers are impossible due to severe data limitations.cxxxiv Because the US has birthright citizenship, most stateless people in the country arrived from elsewhere in the world. While some may have already been stateless on arrival in the States, others may have lost their nationality once they arrived. Stateless people in America can experience a range of rights abuses resulting from their lack of citizenship, including prolonged or multiple periods of detention, perpetual reporting requirements, Katie Robertson in the USA difficulty accessing employment, travel, healthcare and education, indefinite family separation and a lack of access to identity documentation or bank accounts.cxxxv Stateless people are also often at greater risk of homelessness, poverty, marginalization, depression, anxiety and mental health issues.cxxxvi In the words of Ekaterina E., a founding member of United Stateless: ‘To be stateless is to stand on the edge of a void. So much of what defines a modern human being is tied to the concept of nationality and citizenship. When one is stripped of that, a gulf opens up between you and the rest of the human race.’cxxxvii Ekaterina E, founding member of United Stateless Similar to Australia however, one of the biggest challenges identified with statelessness in the U.S. is that so many people don’t know about it.cxxxviii Unlike Australia, the US has not signed onto the two international instruments addressing statelessness - the 1954 Convention and the 1961 Convention. The US does not have a legislative procedure in place to recognize stateless people (i.e. a ‘statelessness determination procedure’), 68