Status verified as of 22 September 2026. Political positions change; this explainer describes the documented position on that date.
Current position
American Samoa remains an unincorporated US territory, and its inhabitants remain US nationals rather than birthright citizens following the Fitisemanu litigation's conclusion in 2022. No independence campaign is documented in the sources reviewed.[1]
Sources for this page
Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.
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1.
Claim: The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on 27 December 2021 that people born in American Samoa are not entitled to birthright citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment; the US Supreme Court denied certiorari on 17 October 2022, leaving American Samoans' status as US nationals (rather than citizens) unchanged.
- Fitisemanu v. United States (Wikipedia) link, Tenth Circuit ruling and certiorari denial section. Source record
Printed from https://independenceatlas.com/movements/american-samoa-political-status/status · last substantive update 24 September 2026.