BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The American Samoa Government and Congresswoman Aumua Amata, as well as the US State Department, have filed separate notices of their intent to appeal the US citizenship decision issued last month by the federal court in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The State Department, along...
HONOLULU (AP) — Growing up in American Samoa, Filipo Ilaoa’s neighbors were his cousins on a plot of land full of banana and breadfruit trees shared by his extended family and overseen by a chief elected by his relatives.
He worries a federal judge's recent ruling in Utah saying those born in the...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The American Samoa Government and Congresswoman Aumua Amata - who are Intervenors in the citizenship lawsuit before the federal court in Salt Lake City, Utah - have opposed a new motion filed by three American Samoans living in Utah, who argue that since they were born...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — At last Friday’s cabinet meeting, Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga spoke about the US citizenship issue, saying it is a “very, very simple” matter and the “position that our people took is very simple.”
“We believe that we are okay the way we are now,” he said, adding that,...
Salt Lake City, UTAH — After hearing oral arguments this week, a federal judge in Salt Lake City, Utah has taken under submission and will issue a written opinion “as soon as possible” in the US citizenship case filed by three US nationals living in Utah, according to federal court records.
The...
Trump's move to end birthright citizenship causes concern among some U.S. Nationals, Amata clarifies
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — As President Donald Trump pushes to end birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children of immigrants who are not citizens, a federal court case filed in Utah that seeks to expand that exact right for American Samoans is heating up, according to KUER.org — public radio...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The US citizenship lawsuit filed by three American Samoans living in Utah is moving forward, with the federal court in Salt Lake City, Utah setting oral arguments for November — after the midterm elections — while the American Samoa Government and Congresswoman Aumua...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A federal judge has granted, in part, the American Samoa Government and Congresswoman Aumua Amata’s motion for “permissive intervention” in the US citizenship lawsuit, a court decision described by an attorney for the intervenors as “a victory for the people of American...
Salt Lake City, UTAH — The federal court imposing automatic US citizenship on persons born in American Samoa “violates fundamental principles of self-determination” as well as its “sovereignty and the importance of the fa’aSamoa,” according to the latest filing by the American Samoa Government and...
Salt Lake City, UTAH — The federal court in Salt Lake City, Utah has scheduled for early next month a hearing to hear oral arguments on a joint request by the American Samoa Government and Congresswoman Aumua Amata to intervene in the US citizenship case.
Court records show the hearing before US...


![[SN file photo] U.S. and American Samoa flags outside the ASG Executive Office Building](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/flags_half_staffweb_2.jpg?itok=q7yRBhT7)
![Federal District Court Building in Salt Lake City, Utah. [GSA website] Federal District Court Building in Salt Lake City, Utah.](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/fed_courthouse_salt_lake.jpg?itok=Ga8sj_Ml)
![Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga [SN file photo] Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/gov._lolo-headshot_5.jpg?itok=mm8lB4di)

![John Fitisemanu is an American Samoan living in Woods Cross, Utah. He and other American Samoans in the U.S. are listed as U.S. nationals, not citizens. [photo: courtesy Equally American] John Fitisemanu](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/pacnews_fitisemanu.jpg?itok=BvhzB3z3)



![Congresswoman Aumua Amata [SN file photo] Congresswoman Aumua Amata](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/amata_speaks_0.jpg?itok=EU40KfRP)