Sec. 3. Findings; sense of Congress
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Congress makes the following findings: The international community has recognized the significance of the right to a nationality in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, done at New York December 16, 1966, to which the United States is a signatory, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and numerous international treaties, including the Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, done at New York September 28, 1954, and the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, done at New York August 30, 1961.
Statelessness is an abhorrent violation of fundamental human rights and human dignity, and a life of statelessness has been recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States as a form of punishment more primitive than torture. Government action and inaction causes statelessness; therefore, governments have the power to resolve and prevent statelessness. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees— is the United Nations agency responsible for preventing and reducing statelessness; and estimates that there are more than 4,200,000 stateless persons worldwide.
A 2020 study found that there are approximately 218,000 individuals living in the United States who are stateless or at risk of statelessness. Stateless individuals live in all 50 States, and many such individuals have lived in the United States for years or decades without relief. Despite the presence of stateless persons in the United States, there is no law relating to the identification of stateless persons in the United States or to provide them with a path to legal status.
Stateless persons generally— live without the means to work legally or to travel; and face barriers in opening bank accounts, pursuing higher education, and obtaining health care. If detained for removal from the United States, a stateless person is often subjected to prolonged detention and cannot be removed because no country recognizes the person as its citizen. It is the sense of Congress that to resolve statelessness and its related human suffering, lost potential, and societal impacts, the United States should— provide a legal status to protect stateless persons; and urge the international community to take strong action to prevent statelessness globally.