28 Jun 2013

American Samoa's Faleomavaega welcome citizenship case ruling

3:28 pm on 28 June 2013

American Samoa's member of the US Congress, Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin, says he is thankful to the federal court in Washington for ruling that it is the US Congress with power to provide for citizenship for persons born in US territories.

This comes after the US District Court judge Richard J. Leon dismissed the citizenship lawsuit filed last July by five American Samoans and a California based organisation, whose suit asked the court to declare that all persons born in American Samoa should automatically be US citizens.

Faleomavaega last year filed an amicus brief as friend of the court supporting the defendant, the US State Department, seeking to dismiss the lawsuit.

He says the decision by the court is a victory for all Samoans, adding that the decision also reaffirms Congress' plenary power to provide for citizenship for persons born in US territories.