Woman With U.S. Birth Certificate Sues Over Passport Denial
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – An Oregon woman is suing the U.S. State Department for declining to issue her a U.S. passport even though her lawyer says she presented federal government officials with a certified birth certificate from a California hospital.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon filed the suit Tuesday in federal court in Medford on behalf of Maria Qarrillo Soto who has lived in Oregon for 30 years.
Soto’s lawyer Leland Baxter-Neal of the ACLU says Soto, of White City, was denied a U.S. passport in 2018 despite providing government officials with her original birth certificate, copies of her Social Security card, driver’s license and marriage certificate and medical records from her pregnancy.
The government denied the passport, writing that the material she presented was not sufficient to establish her identity.
The State Department said it doesn’t comment on pending lawsuits.
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Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com
