An American lawyer says there are many American Samoans living in several US states and territories, who want to be recognized as US citizens without having to go through the naturalization process.
Photo: Equally American
Neil Weare of the Washington D.C. based "Equally American" group and American Samoa based lawyer, Charles Alailima, are part of a legal team suing the federal government in Salt Lake City.
The lead plaintiff is American Samoan John Fitisemanu, who is joined by Pale Tuli, and Rosavita Tuli.
All three live in Utah.
They were all born in American Samoa and want the court to declare that they are US citizens by birth, under the Citizenship Clause - the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution.
Both lawyers were also part of the legal team in a similar challenge, that proved unsuccessful, more than two years ago.