Section 2: Identifying the Stateless Client The first step in legal representation is to evaluate the legal status of the individual. Who is she? Where did she last habitually reside? How did she arrive to the United States? What is her citizenship? These questions can be complicated for any individual, though more so when someone is stateless. While the answers are essential to prove that someone is stateless, they are not always straightforward. An individual might be unaware that she is stateless. There are a number of red flags or indicators that an individual may be stateless. These include: ! ! ! ! ! ! An admission or statement that she lacks or has lost her citizenship or nationality; Being from a country that no longer exists; Fear of contacting the embassy of her country of last habitual residence; An embassy’s refusal to issue an identification or travel document with or without explicitly declaring that the person is not a national of that country; An inability of the U.S. government to remove the individual; An inability of the individual to secure travel documents from any country with which they have ties. In some cases, the individual’s ethnicity or country of origin signals a greater likelihood that they are stateless. In other cases, a client’s gender may place her at a greater risk of statelessness. Note: UNHCR estimates that at least 10 million people were stateless or at risk of statelessness in 2016. However, data captured by governments and reported to UNHCR were limited to 3.2 million stateless individuals in 75 countries.18 18 2016 Global Trends Report, supra note 9. 5