2013/ STA TEL ESS IN THE UNITED STATS 447 other parts of the Western Hemisphere. It proceeds to show how statelessness would increase if the United States should alter its birthright citizenship rules, using the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2013 as an example for this proposed change. In its latter sections, this Article explains the mechanisms that would create statelessness for children and why statelessness is an undesirable result both for the individuals involved and for the United States. II. THE PRESENT PROBLEM OF STATELESSNESS A. Statelessnessas an InternationalSociopolitical Concern Stateless is a term used in international legal instruments to denote individuals and populations with no enforceable assertion of a nationality.9 Whether someone is stateless ultimately depends on the viewpoint of the state with respect to the individual or group of individuals.' 0 Identifying stateless persons can prove difficult." An estimated 12 million persons are believed to be stateless throughout the world.12 But the State Department warns that because the data are unreliable, it is impossible to know whether those numbers are growing or shrinking.' 3 The problem of statelessness has been substantial enough to attract international attention since at least 1954. Two international conventions constitute the primary framework for definitions of and 9. See generally U.N. HIGH COMM'R FOR REFUGEES [UNHCR], THE STATE OF THE WORLD'S REFUGEES: A HUMANITARIAN AGENDA ch. 6 (1997), available at http://www.unher.org/3eb7ba7d4.pdf (defining a stateless individual as someone "who is not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law"). 10. See generally Alison Harvey, Statelessness: The 'de facto' Statelessness Debate, 24 J. IMMIGR. ASYLUM & NATIONALITY L. 257, 259 (2010) (demonstrating the need to create a new way to describe individuals who are not stateless, but also not entitled to all the rights of citizenship, rather than using the term de facto stateless given the confusion it has introduced into the statelessness debate). 11. As explained by Refugees International: "Some stateless persons may be registered as foreigners, non-national residents, or be categorized as nationals of another state, even in instances where the other state does not consider them as nationals and will not protect them. . . . Questions about nationality and citizenship also arise for children of migrant workers." KATHERINE SOUTHWICK & M. LYNCH, REFUGEES INT'L, NATIONALITY RIGHTS FOR ALL: A PROGRESS REPORT AND GLOBAL SURVEY ON STATELESSNESS 2 (2009), available at http://www.refintl.org/sites/default/ files/RI%20Stateless%20ReportFINAL_031109.pdf. 12. See Jay Milbrandt, Stateless, 20 CARDOZO J. INT'L & COMP. L. 75, 76 (2011) (suggesting the issue of statelessness is one of extreme, international importance today, and that a cooperative international network could be a viable solution). 13. See Samuel M. Witten & David J. Kramer, Imagine This: You Have No Country, No Country Will Claim You, DIPNOTE: U.S. DEP'T ST. OFFICIAL BLOG (Sept. 16, 2008, 8:30 AM), http:/Iblogs.state.gov/index.php/entries/no-country/ (stating that due to the limited data regarding the stateless, few trends can be delineated, but the State Department is adding the issue to annual country reports to increase awareness).