American Samoa residents sue for citizenship

[laserhaas]

Source: The HILL

Link to tweet

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American Samoa residents are suing to earn citizenship at birth, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.

Residents of the U.S. territory aren't considered citizens, but are recognized as U.S. nationals.

This means the residents are not permitted to vote, sponsor relatives immigrating to the U.S. or run for office. However, they do pay taxes to U.S. officials.

The lawsuit was filed by American Samoa residents living in Utah. They are suing for the right to citizenship under the 14th Amendment, which grants American citizenship at birth to anyone born in the country, the AP reported.

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/380587-american-samoa-residents-sue-for-citizenship?amp&__twitter_impression=true

[rickford66]

1. Then go for statehood.

[elleng]

3. and be as successful as the District of Columbia, right?

[rickford66]

4. DC is a special case while American Samoa is similar to Hawaii

That said, I believe DC should have voting rights in Congress.

[Glorfindel]

2. My drill sergeant in the Army was American Samoan

The only one I have ever met. I wouldn't have wanted to be the one to tell him he wasn't a citizen. Ditto all the hundreds of drafted Puerto Ricans I served with. This country needs to do some profound self-examining, in my opinion.

[Aristus]

5. One of the tank gunners in my platoon in the Gulf was Samoan.

He was a very nice guy, and an absolutely huge mass of muscle. He was the only person I knew who could strike fear in the heart of my scrappy, pugilistic Irish-American tank commander.

How this guy was able to squeeze into the cramped gunner's station on the tank, I can't quite remember.

[AwakeAtLast]

7. Went to college with a Samoan

Lovely gentleman - and very large. I believe he was there on a football scholarship. If you met him and didn't know that, you couldn't fathom him tackling anyone, he was that nice.

[BobTheSubgenius]

8. I saw a 60 Minutes piece about Samoa and football.

The passion for the game makes places like Alabama and Texas look indifferent to football. The report says that a Samoan man is 56 times more likely to be in the NFL than any other ethnicity, per capita.

[AwakeAtLast]

9. Oh, wow

I did not know that. I do remember how proud he was to play.

[James48]

6. Statehood - good answer

For American Samoa, and Puerto Rico.

Our 51st and 52nd States.

They need to push it, and we need to capture Congress and make it a plank of Democrats everywhere- to support Statehood for those territories that wish to become states. We haven’t added one in my lifetime- now would be a good time.

[Humanist_Activist]

10. I like how a few comments comically miss the point, statehood isn't necessary, these are residents..

of Utah. The point is that they aren't citizens, guess what, Puerto Ricans who move to Utah can register to vote in Utah, run for office in Utah, even run for President of the United States(this can be done even from Puerto Rico), because they are US citizens.

Actually, here's a funny point, a citizen who lives in Puerto Rico can run for President of the United States, but cannot vote in said election themselves, because Puerto Rico has no electors in the EC.

By the way, I hope the American Samoans win, should be an easy case, even on American Samoa itself, they are born under U.S. jurisdiction, plain wording of the 14th Amendment should make them citizens, equal protection clause is a bonus.

[laserhaas]

11. Cool

👍😎👌

[Hekate]

12. It's about time. We shouldn't be having colonies. nt