A US government official with the State Department’s Passport Services reaches for a new blank US Passport with an embedded electronic chip to begin the process of entering personal data and the photograph of an applicant (Photo credit: PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — A girl born to American parents vacationing in Mexico is considered “stateless,” a designation that leaves her ineligible for medical coverage in the U.S.
Cerrina Foster, now 13, was born prematurely in 1999. Her mother says a language barrier prevented her from getting a certificate signifying a birth abroad.
Cerrina has been bounced among government agencies while her mother seeks to obtain a passport for her, signifying her U.S. citizenship.
The Eugene Register-Guard reports hospital birth records proved insufficient with U.S. immigration authorities, and Cerrina is ineligible for a green card because she is technically not an immigrant.
She is instead one of an estimated 12 million people around the world who lack adequate birth registration, leaving them without citizenship anywhere.
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