Fisher: Citizenship, Federalism, and Delayed Birth Registration
CITIZENSHIP, FEDERALISM, AND DELAYED BIRTH
REGISTRATION IN THE UNITED STATES
Betsy L. Fisher *
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
Introduction ....................................................................50
Birth Registration ............................................................52
A. Birth Registration and Human Rights.........................53
B. Birth Registration in the United States .......................55
1. The Federal System of Birth Registration..............55
2. Birth Registration and Exclusion ..........................58
3. Birth Registration and Processes to Establish U.S.
Citizenship...........................................................60
Born Without Proof .........................................................65
A. Societal Exclusion for Unregistered Individuals .........65
B. Reasons why Births are Unregistered .........................69
Birth Registration and Federalism....................................70
A. Variation in State Law on Delayed Birth Registration:
Two Scenarios ..........................................................71
B. Birth Registration and Federalism..............................74
Birth Registration, U.S. Citizenship, and Statelessness......77
Conclusion ......................................................................79
“That day I had started work as usual signing birth certificates which
made regular citizens, recognized by the state, out of new-born infants.”
Yusuf Idris, Death from Old Age 1
*
Betsy L. Fisher is a lecturer in International Refugee Law at the University of Michigan Law School
and a pro bono advisor to United Stateless, a U.S.-based and stateless-led NGO that advocates for the
rights of stateless people in the United States. B.A., Denison University; M.A., University of
Michigan Rackham Graduate School in Middle Eastern and North African Studies, and J.D.,
University of Michigan Law School. Thanks to Don Herzog and Sam Erman for helpful comments
on earlier drafts, to Shay Elbaum from the University of Michigan Law Library, and Kelly Grugan
and Michael Pfennig for their research on state delayed birth registration law.
1. YUSUF IDRIS, THE ESSENTIAL YUSUF IDRIS: MASTERPIECES OF THE EGYPTIAN S HORT
S TORY 123 (Denys Johnson-Davies, ed. (2009)).
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Published by IdeaExchange@UAkron, 2025
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