A Refugee is Denied Asylum, Highlighting Statelessness, Described by GHRC Report

This Stateless Refugee Has To Be Deported, But He Has Nowhere To Go

Motaz Alhelou is a man without a country.

Born and raised in Gaza, the 30-year-old Palestinian was forced to flee his homeland after deserting and defying Hamas, the militant group in power.

Alhelou was conscripted into the group when he was 17 years old. He spent years planning his escape, but Hamas was on to him.

>>>>

Alhelou fled Gaza after his release and was denied refugee status in multiple other countries before arriving in the United States in December 2021. The U.S. denied him asylum and has instead held him in detention. Alhelou is stateless, and no country will take him in.

Many people in the U.S. know about migrants and refugees generally, but not about the specific plight of stateless people living in their country. Yet there are more than 200,000 of them across America, according to a report published in November by the University of Chicago Law School. The actual number is likely considerably greater because stateless people are often invisible due to a lack of documentation.

Read more at Huffington Post