Passports arrive for some ex-stateless

The first batch of U.S. passports for the former stateless individuals in the CNMI has arrived, according to the U.S. Passport Office.

Passport Office director Ann Doris Babauta said her office received 20 passports as of yesterday.

Five of them were immediately claimed yesterday afternoon, she said.

The first claimant, Matt Elbo Jr., 26, arrived at the Passport Office at noon to get his “much awaited document.”

“I feel so good. I’ve waited for this for a very long time! I feel that justice has prevailed,” said Elbo.

He said his first trip would be to Guam.

Elbo, who has persistently called local and federal officials to follow up on his U.S. passport over the past couple of months, said earlier that he plans to go to Nebraska to study.

Babauta said the federal government issued the passports randomly.

“They are mixed. They are in no particular order,” she said.

Of the 20 passports, 17 are for Saipan and three are for Tinian.

The passport of Jacinto Sabangan, one of the two former stateless persons who received a favorable ruling when they appealed the case at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, was not in the first batch. Sabangan lives on Rota.

Likewise, Randy Mendoza, who has served as spokesperson for the former stateless individuals, has yet to receive his passport.

Mendoza said that his younger brother, Ryan, has now joined the U.S. Army. He said Ryan, using his birth certificate as his passport, left for North Carolina last Sunday.

“It’s a big thing for him. It was unexpected at this time but he is there now. We’re really happy for him,” said Randy.

A week ago, Gov. Juan N. Babauta announced that the U.S. State Department gave the go-signal to issue U.S. passports to the former stateless individuals in the CNMI.

U.S. Passport regional director in Honolulu Nancy K. Finn, he said, wrote that, as a result of the recent legal proceedings regarding Sabangan vs Powell, Passports Services will now recognize those persons in the CNMI born between Jan. 9, 1978 and Nov. 3, 1986, as entitled to U.S. citizenship.

Finn said the court’s decision favoring the granting of U.S. citizenship to people born in the CNMI during that period “doesn’t change any other Department of State interpretation of the Covenant.”

The granting of U.S. citizenship to stateless persons came after the U.S. government decided not to appeal the Appeals Court ruling.

The Appeals Court cited that the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which provides that individuals born in the U.S. becomes its citizens, is applicable in the Commonwealth from Jan. 9, 1978 onwards.

Stateless persons refer to those born to foreign parents in the CNMI during the period.