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A Kaimuki man is appealing the dismissal of his lawsuit challenging federal laws that classify him and others born in American Samoa as U.S. nationals instead of U.S. citizens.
Vaaleama Tovia Fosi and four others who were born in American Samoa sued the U.S. government in Washington, D.C., in July 2012, claiming that their denial of U.S. citizenship is unconstitutional.
American Samoa is the only U.S. territory in which people born there do not automatically get U.S.
citizenship. American Samoans who want to become U.S. citizens must go through the same naturalization process as foreigners.
In June, a federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled that the constitution’s 14th Amendment citizenship clause doesn’t apply to people born in American Samoa and dismissed the lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said it is up to Congress to determine the naturalization process for potential citizens.
Congress approved other laws granting the people of Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands citizenship at birth.
Leon said those laws would not have been necessary if the constitution granted citizenship to the people in all U.S. territories.
Lawyers for Fosi and his fellow plaintiffs filed their notice of appeal Friday.