Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The Utah public radio station KUER is reporting due to a quirk in immigration paperwork, Ignacio Carlos Gomez, of West Valley City, UT is stranded in American Samoa after he traveled there in January for a construction job.

Now, officials won’t let him leave.

“He's stuck there on the island. He cannot work,” Rolando Vazquez, a Florida attorney who took on the case pro bono, told KUER.

Gomez lived in Utah with temporary protected status after fleeing Venezuela. In an Instagram video, he said his Venezuelan passport was expired and he didn’t have travel authorization when he flew to the territory. He thought he would be fine because his employer said American Samoa is a U.S. territory.

It’s a cautionary tale for other non-citizen residents of the United States who do’t know that the territory has its own government and constitution, and American Samoans aren’t U.S. citizens; they are U.S. nationals. They are represented in Congress by a non-voting delegate.

Those in the U.S. with temporary protected status can’t leave the country without authorization from the federal government. Despite this, Gomez was allowed into the territory without issue. However, when he tried to leave, officials wouldn’t let him board a flight, Vazquez said.

“He has no country to back him.”

Joel Hannahs, communications director for Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata, American Samoa’s delegate, said the area is unique among U.S. territories because it controls its borders.

“Because of that, a return flight back to Honolulu is treated with the same security as an international flight, requiring a valid and current passport,” he told KUER in an email.

The situation is “a first for our office,” he said, adding that “Congresswoman Amata is deeply sympathetic to this plight.”

Vazquez doesn’t know why Gomez was allowed into American Samoa with an expired passport. He thinks it was a mistake on the part of U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Hawaii or officials in American Samoa.

“They should have known that he wasn't eligible to leave, so he should have never been allowed to enter.”

Vazquez is working to get Gomez the required paperwork to return to Utah. He’s been in contact with representatives from American Samoa and plans to reach out to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.