ILAI KOONWAIYOU V. ANTONY BLINKEN, ET AL, No. 22-35233 (9th Cir. 2023)
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Petitioner was born in 1967 in Western Samoa to a Western Samoan father and an American Samoan mother. His mother is now a non-citizen national, but she only became eligible under the 1986 amendments and did not attain her status until after Petitioner was born. Petitioner sought a declaration that his mother’s status qualifies him to be a non-citizen national. The district court held that Petitioner’s mother’s status as a national commenced only on the date it was conferred and was not retroactive to her date of birth. The court, therefore, found Petitioner did not qualify to be a non-citizen national.
The Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s grant of the Government’s motion to dismiss. The panel explained that Congress has extended citizenship to individuals born in every United States territory except American Samoa, meaning that those with ties to American Samoa are the only group eligible for noncitizen national status. The status of an American Samoan is a hybrid. The panel concluded that the text of the 1986 amendments makes clear that Congress intended for the addition to apply retroactively and to bestow the same status on those born before, on, or after the date of enactment: “national, but not citizen, of the United States at birth.” The panel concluded that Petitioner’s mother’s non-citizen national status extends back to her birth and, as a result, that Petitioner qualifies for non-citizen national status too.
Court Description: Immigration The panel reversed the district court’s grant of the Government’s motion to dismiss in a case in which Ilai Kanutu Koonwaiyou sought a declaration that his mother’s status as a non-citizen national—which she attained after Koonwaiyou’s birth—qualified him to be a non-citizen national of the United States, and remanded.
In 1986, Congress amended the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (“INA”) to make individuals born to only one non-citizen national parent outside the United States and American Samoa eligible to become “nationals, but not citizens, of the United States at birth.” 8 U.S.C. § 1408. Prior to 1986, such status extended only to (1) those born in American Samoa, (2) those born outside the United States or American Samoa with two non-citizen national parents, and (3) those found in American Samoa under the age of five whose parents are unknown.
The panel explained that Congress has extended citizenship to individuals born in every United States territory, except American Samoa, meaning that those with ties to American Samoa are the only group eligible for non-citizen national status. The status of an American Samoan is a hybrid: for example, as non-citizens, they are denied the right to vote and run for federal or state office outside American Samoa; but as nationals, they can serve in the American military, receive most federal benefits, travel freely in the United States, and cannot be removed as aliens.
Koonwaiyou was born in 1967 in Western Samoa to a Western Samoan father and an American Samoan mother. His mother is now a non-citizen national, but she only became eligible under the 1986 amendments and did not attain her status until after Koonwaiyou was born. Koonwaiyou sought a declaration that his mother’s status qualifies him to be a non-citizen national. The district court held that, under the 1986 amendments, Koonwaiyou’s mother’s status as a national commenced only on the date it was conferred and was not retroactive to her date of birth. The court therefore found Koonwaiyou did not qualify to be a non-citizen national.
To answer the narrow question whether Koonwaiyou qualifies for non-citizen national status, the panel wrote that it must decide whether those individuals, like Koonwaiyou’s mother, who qualify under but were born before the 1986 amendments are eligible for the same non-citizen national status as those born on or after the amendments. The Government’s position was that the 1986 amendments should apply only prospectively, such that this non-citizen national status could only be conferred on those born on or after the amendments.
The panel concluded that the text of the 1986 amendments makes clear that Congress intended for the addition to apply retroactively and to bestow the same status on those born before, on, or after the date of enactment: “national[], but not citizen, of the United States at birth.” 8 U.S.C. § 1408. Under this interpretation, the uncodified provision of the 1986 amendments—which provides that the amendments “shall apply to persons born before, on, or after the date of the enactment” of the amendments—could be easily harmonized with the text of § 1408, giving every word in the amendments meaning. The uncodified section also provided the necessary clear statement regarding retroactivity.
The panel observed that the uncodified section clarified that those qualifying under but born before its enactment do not automatically become non-citizen nationals; instead, they attain status only after proving that they meet certain requirements. However, the panel concluded that it went too far to conclude, as the Government argued, that this provision was a subtle attempt by Congress to bestow a different status on individuals qualifying under but born before the 1986 amendments. The panel explained that this interpretation clashes with the text and structure of § 1408: it would require reading the prefatory “at birth” language out of § 1408 for one group of individuals.
The panel further explained that its interpretation is consistent with similar provisions in the INA, where Congress specified whether persons achieve status “at birth” or as of a particular date. The panel also wrote that its interpretation was consistent with the purpose of the 1986 amendments, which the parties agreed was to expand the class of American Samoans eligible to become non-citizen nationals. Finally, the panel explained that the limited legislative history supported the panel’s view that Congress aimed to establish equal status for all American Samoans who qualify for non-citizen national status under § 1408.
Applying its interpretation, the panel concluded that Koonwaiyou’s mother’s non-citizen national status extends back to her birth and, as a result, that Koonwaiyou qualifies for non-citizen national status too.
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