Govt to help stateless get their US passports

The issuance of passports to the “stateless” individuals in the CNMI may take longer than normal due to the nature of their case, but the government is inclined to help expedite the processing.

Governor press secretary Pete A. Callaghan said yesterday that the government, through the Attorney General’s Office, would try to work with concerned federal agencies to fast track the process.

“It’s going to be probably longer than normal…but we’re going to try to help them. AGO can help with the U.S. Passport and the U.S. immigration. They might expedite it a little bit,” said Callaghan.

He said the administration would provide concerned agencies with the complete list of stateless individuals.

The administration’s official list only contains over 100 names. The same number of people have pending applications with the U.S. Passport Office.

Estimates showed that there are about 200 stateless individuals on island. There were 300 of them originally but some of them have changed status or left the Commonwealth.

These individuals were born to foreign parents from Jan. 9, 1978 to Nov. 4, 1986.

The U.S. Passports Office said it received several calls from the stateless group yesterday when the news came out that the U.S. government had decided not to further contest their citizenship in court. The local U.S. Passport Office, however, has no authority over the matter since it only submits the applications to the Hawaii Passport office. The Hawaii office would then only issue the passports on the go-signal of the U.S. State Department.

The AGO announced Monday that the U.S. Department of Justice had decided not to appeal the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that favors the granting of U.S. citizenship to the stateless individuals.

The U.S. Supreme Court had given the Department of Justice a maximum extension of 60 days or up to Feb. 13 to appeal the ruling.

The lack of appeal makes the decision in Secretary of State Colin Powell vs. Jacinto A. Sabangan et al, final and executory.

In July 2004, Ninth Circuit Judge John T. Noonan ruled that applying the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in the CNMI entitles those born in the Commonwealth during the period to become U.S. citizens.

The citizenship can be granted through a judicial remedy or an act of Congress.