VOLUME LV – NUMBER 1

Taryn L. Painter

Abstract: Though Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone
has the right to a nationality, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
estimates that up to ten million people around the world live without a formally recognized
nationality. They are stateless and hold no legal nationality to any state in the world. Despite the
United States’ jus soli citizenship laws, an estimated 218,000 stateless people are present within
the US and unable to adjust their legal status or return to their country of origin due to their
stateless status. Statelessness studies are slowly growing, yet there is little public knowledge of
stateless persons in comparison to other displaced groups in the United States. There are even
fewer studies conducted on American public opinion of stateless persons. This survey study aims
to understand general perceptions and attitudes towards stateless persons present in the United
States and observe if interacting with human interest framed stimuli results in a change of
attitudes towards stateless persons.

Keywords: Statelessness, Non-citizen, Nationality, Citizenship, United States, Immigration,
Public Opinion, Human Interest Frame

About the Author: Taryn Painter is an Honors College senior at Towson University studying History, Political
Science, and Human Rights. Since 2020, she has worked on research and development projects with United
Stateless, a domestic NGO founded and led by stateless persons whose mission is to advocate for the human rights
of persons directly impacted by statelessness. This study was completed over the summer of 2021 with a research
grant provided by the Towson University Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry. Taryn was born
and raised in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and plans to return to the area after graduation for a year of
service with AmeriCorps.

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