In addition to this online petition we have over a thousand signatures
on paper. If you work or have regular access to a high traffic area please print out the paper petitions here. Please mail all paper petitions to:

Inga Music
B.O. Box 7603
West Palm Beach FL, 33405

Inga and her husband Keith, need your help! Please sign this
petition to help Inga gain Freedom and Nationality! This petition was
started when Inga was taken into custody on June 12, 2007

Inga's life story is most extraordinary! She was
born in Soviet Latvia in 1983 into a family of visual artists. She was seven
years old when her parents received an invitation to restore a Church in
Denmark. Inga and family left Soviet Latvia and traveled to Denmark.
Shortly after their arrival in Denmark the U.S.S.R collapsed. The former
republic of Latvia became its own independent country leaving Inga and her
parents in a state of limbo.

That's how 17 years ago Inga became stateless. A person without
nationality, citizenship, or permanent residence anywhere in the world. She
was born in a country that no longer exists and was not there during the
registration period to get residence in the newly formed independent
Latvia.

Quoting UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees)

"...Statelessness is a massive problem that affects an estimated 15 million
people in at least 60 developed and developing countries. Statelessness also
has a terrible impact on the lives of individuals. Possession of nationality is
essential for full participation in society and a prerequisite for the enjoyment
of the full range of human rights. While human rights are generally to be
enjoyed by everyone, rights such as the right to vote and the unrestricted
right to enter and reside in a State may be limited to nationals. Of
even greater concern is that many more rights of stateless persons are
violated in practice: they may be detained for the sole reason that they are
stateless, denied access to education and health services, or blocked from
obtaining employment..."
- UNHCR
(Statelessness)

For the past 17 years Inga has remained without nationality. She had
asked, and has been denied political asylum in three countries in which she
has since lived, including the US and Canada.

Inga was held in USA Immigration detention prison in South Florida
from June 12, 2007 till August 31, 2007. Inga was detained for failing to
leave the country after being served a voluntary departure order. She could
not have left even if she wanted to. She is STATELESS and has no passport
and no travel documents. Even though she is married to an American
citezen, this does not grant her freedom.

This is what UNHCR has to say about stateless people:

"Most stateless people are - almost by definition - anonymous.
People who live in the shadows at the edge of society. Peple with no chance
of a career at all..."
- Refugees
Magazine Issue 147: The Excluded: The strange hidden world of the
stateless

Help put an end to Inga's statelessness! Every signature
counts!

To learn more about statelessness visit the links below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
1954_Convention_Relating_to_the_Status_of_Stateless_Persons
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/protect?id=3b8265c7a
http://www.refugeesinternational.org/content/publication/detail/5051/
http://www.state.gov/g/prm/rls/45288.htm