A woman adopted as a toddler from an Iranian orphanage by an American war veteran, and raised as a Christian in the United States, is facing deportation to Iran – a country where Christians face severe persecution and which is currently on the brink of potential conflict with the US.
She is one of thousands of individuals adopted from abroad who were never granted citizenship due to a complex intersection of adoption and immigration law. The woman, whose name The Associated Press has withheld due to her precarious legal situation, recently received a letter from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ordering her to appear for removal proceedings before an immigration judge in California. She has no criminal record. The letter states she is eligible for deportation because she overstayed her visa in March 1974, when she was just four years old.
