The voting controversy over American Samoans in Alaska, in context

Tensions between the US government and a small group of people of American Samoan descent have broken out in Alaska in recent weeks, raising questions about the future of birthright citizenship in America. About ten months after Tupe Smith, a mother and resident of Alaska, ran for a seat on a regional school board, state troopers showed up at her house. They arrested her for her illegal signing of a document saying that she was a US citizen. Smith reasons that she would never have signed the document had she known the legality of the issue and thus made a mistake regarding her status as a resident of Alaska. The state, however, has filed charges against Smith, alleging that she was intentionally negligent in filling out a voter application form in the past. 

The broader implications of such an arrest raise questions about American Samoa’s unique position as an unincorporated territory. Unlike residents of other territories, such as Puerto Rico, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands, the people of American Samoa are not allowed to vote in federal elections or hold office. Smith’s lawyers are attempting to argue that she should be granted birthright citizenship by the 14th Amendment, which would logically confer this privilege, as American Samoa became a territory of the US in 1900. According to Neil Weare of Right to Democracy, “…that’s a question that will come out over the course of this case: Can the state of Alaska, in fact, prove that these people born on US soil, who owe permanent allegiance to the United States, who have a US passport, are not US citizens? And we don’t think they’ll be able to do that.” 

However, many people within American Samoa don’t even want birthright citizenship out of fear of disruption to their cultural ideologies and traditional style of land ownership. In this way, the ongoing tension between Tupe Smith and nine other people of American Samoan descent, as well as the federal government, marks one of many instances of unrest resulting from the territorial status. Moving forward, this legal debate of citizen status will take center stage as the battle for birthright citizenship continues.