A court ruling in the United States that people born in American Samoa do not qualify for automatic US citizenship has been described by the governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga as the right decision.
A three-judge panel affirmed a lower court's decision handed down last year that only Congress has the authority to grant citizenship to people born in outlying areas of the US such as American Samoa.
People born in American Samoa are considered US nationals.
The appeals court was reluctant to impose citizenship over the objections of the American Samoan people themselves, as expressed through their democratically elected representatives.
Governor Lolo says while he can appreciate the plantiff had a desire to obtain US citizenship, the court made the right decision for all people of American Samoa.
He says the decision protects the territory's Samoan way of life, communal land and matai system.
Hundreds of people get residence status legalised after an amnesty Photo: AFP