f. Persons who have renounced or rejected their nationality without acquiring another nationality Individuals who voluntarily renounced their nationality without possessing other nationalities, or who have rejected the possibility of acquiring nationality for political reasons, are stateless if they have not obtained another nationality. This category includes persons who are eligible for citizenship but have not naturalized for political reasons, such as Druze who refuse Israeli citizenship (Plachta 2017). In such cases, persons may remain stateless if they refuse to acquire the nationality of the state in which they reside. g. Illegal overseas adoptions and children from international commercial surrogacy Under the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, children adopted overseas automatically become US citizens if one of their parents is a US citizen, the child is under age 18, he or she lives (or lived) in the custody of the US citizen parent, has been admitted to the United States as an immigrant, and the adoption is final.41 However, children illegally adopted from abroad by US citizen parents may be stateless and, if they lack documentation to secure nationality in their country of origin, they may remain stateless after arrival in the United States. Children born overseas to surrogate mothers with donors’ egg and sperm may also be stateless (Batha 2014). DOS only recognizes biological parentage in overseas births, meaning that children born to surrogates may not be entitled to US nationality if donor sperm and eggs are used (DOS 2019). Also, international surrogacy agreements require the gestational mother to waive all parental rights, and sperm and egg donors are anonymous. Consequently, such children may be ineligible for the citizenship of their surrogate mother. h. Non-migrant Stateless Populations Globally, most stateless persons do not cross international borders or leave their country of long-term residence (UNHCR 2014g, 3). It is likely that some former US citizens are in this position, either having relinquished US citizenship through certain acts (including a formal renunciation),42 or having been stripped of their citizenship through denaturalization,43 without acquiring nationality in another country. The estimation of this population—persons who became stateless under the operation of US law—is beyond the scope of this project. 41 INA §§ 320, 322. 42 INA § 349. 43 INA §340(a). 40