Overview
- Lawyers and advocates now estimate that as many as 200,000 people adopted from abroad never received U.S. citizenship and could be detained or deported.
- ICE expanded operations, including deployments to airports and raids in Minnesota, which lawyers say have sown fear across communities of color.
- Federal judges in recent months issued more than 7,000 rulings finding immigration agents carried out illegal detentions.
- Many adoptees discovered their lack of status only when applying for a U.S. passport or Social Security benefits, even though the State Department says a valid passport proves citizenship.
- A 2001 law granted automatic citizenship only to adoptees under 18, and a bipartisan House bill to cover older adoptees faces uncertain prospects as some fear applying could draw enforcement attention.