by REERA YOO | @reeraboo
editor@charactermedia.com
The pending deportation of Adam Thomas Crapser, an undocumented Korean American adoptee and survivor of severe child abuse, has sparked a dialogue on a major loophole in immigration law, according to NBC News.
When Adam first arrived in the U.S. in 1979 as a Korean adoptee, his childhood quickly turned into a nightmare. He and his biological sister were adopted by the Wright family in Michigan, where he suffered physical, emotional and sexual abuse. In 1986, the Wrights relinquished their parental rights to Child Services without completing Adam’s naturalization paperwork. As wards of the state, Adam and his sister became separated from each other. After living in a group home for a year, Adam was formally adopted by Thomas and Dolly-Jean Crapser in Oregon.
The Crapsers, along with their biological sons, subjected Adam and seven other foster children to years of heinous abuse and torture. In an interview with Gazillion Strong, Adam revealed that he would get choked, beaten or burnt on a daily basis during the five years he lived with his abusive adoptive family. In 1991, the Crapsers were arrested and convicted of multiple counts of child abuse, child sexual abuse and child rape.
Adam, now a husband and father of three children, faces possible deportation because both sets of adoptive parents failed to complete his naturalization process and refused to provide him with his adoption papers, according to the blog Reappropriate. As an undocumented American, Adam has struggled to attend school or find work for most of his adult life. If deported, he will be sent to a country where he does not even speak the language.
Immigration activists are now advocating for an amendment to the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (CCA). While CCA grants automatic citizenship to all children under the age of 18 legally adopted outside of the U.S., the act does not have a grandfather clause. This means that adult adoptees who were 18 at the time the act went into effect remain undocumented and unprotected from deportation.
The CCA amendment was previously applied to the Senate’s immigration bill in 2013 and had strong support from both the Senate and the House of Representatives. However, since the immigration bill failed to pass, the proposed CCA amendment has been abandoned.
If the amendment is reintroduced and passed, then Adam as well as hundreds of other undocumented international adoptees who were born before 1983 can receive retroactive citizenship.
“America signed a bill to bring us over from Korea in a military action,” Adam told Gazillion Voices. “They promised us a better life over here. All I’m asking is to keep their promise and do what they said they’d do. And if not for me, then for my children.”
Advocacy group 18MillionRising has launched the social media campaign #KeepAdamHome to raise awareness for Adam’s case. A petition is also being circulated online to help stop his deportation.
Adam’s deportation hearing is scheduled for April 2, 2015.
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Featured image via 18MillionRising
