Equality under immigration law

The Honorable Norm Coleman, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
The Honorable Mark Dayton, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
The Honorable Martin Olav Sabo, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.

Date: September 8, 2006
Re: Family-based immigration for American intercountry adoptees

Dear Senator Coleman, Senator Dayton, and Congressman Sabo:

We believe that the current federal law pertaining to family-based immigration for the natural families American intercountry adoptees is unjust. We would like the law reformed so that American intercountry adoptees can sponsor their natural relatives through lawful family-based immigration, just as all other U.S. citizens can. Intercountry adoptees of legal age would like to be treated as equal citizens under the law.

Here are some facts about intercountry adoptees:

Each year thousands of foreign children arrive in the United States as adopted sons and daughters of American citizens. Last year, nearly 23,000 children arrived for the purposes of adoption in the U.S. on orphan visas.

Since 1990, close to a quarter million children have been brought to the U.S. on orphan visas for the purposes of adoption.

The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-395) grants automatic U.S. citizenship to adopted children of U.S. citizens who are born abroad and who do not acquire U.S. citizenship at birth.

Alien orphans benefit from immigration laws that privilege them because of their absorptions into overwhelmingly white, middle-class American adoptive families.

The United States has not yet ratified the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption.

UNICEF reports the annual number of unregistered births in the world (i.e., children with no legal status) at over 48 million.

Unregistered children are vulnerable to trafficking and falsification of papers. Many adoptees do not legally exist until they have entered into the international adoption system as an "orphan.

Many children who have been legally classified as orphans still have parents, siblings, and extended relatives living in their countries of birth.

Despite tremendous geographic, linguistic, cultural, and legal obstacles, many U.S. citizens who were once legally classified as orphans are now reuniting in adulthood with their families of origin in foreign countries. Some would like to rebuild their connections with natural families, but are unable to do so because of they are no longer able to live in their countries of origin, and their natural families are unable to immigrate the U.S..

All U.S. citizens should be afforded the same rights, responsibilities, and privileges of citizenship.

However, under current U.S. immigration law under the Immigration and Nationality Act 101(b), intercountry adoptees, who are now U.S. citizens, are by law not allowed to sponsor the immigration of their natural family members.

The race and class privilege of the adoptive parents of intercountry adoptees has been used in order to facilitate the speedy adoptions and citizenships of overwhelmingly non-white children and children born in former Soviet bloc countries.

Yet intercountry adoptees natural families by law cannot enjoy the same benefits of American citizenship as their natural sons and daughters. This can be interpreted as a form of racial and political discrimination against both American adoptees themselves and their natural families.

It is ironic that although adoptees might be able to petition for foreign spouses and fiancйes, who are of no blood relation, adoptees cannot apply for their own natural, immediate families.

Under Public Law 97-359, a U.S. citizen may petition for the immigration of an Amerasian child or son or daughter of a United States citizen if there is reason to believe that the alien was born in Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea, or Thailand after December 31, 1950, and before October 22, 1982, and was fathered by a U.S. citizen (usually assumed to be a GI).

Likewise, American citizens of the legal age of 21 should also be able to petition for and sponsor the lawful family-based immigration of aliens if there is reason to believe that the beneficiary is a member of their natural family. Foreign-born adoptees of the legal age of 21 should have the same civil rights as any other U.S. citizens.

U.S. immigration law regarding foreign-born adoptees has been historically changed by powerful adoption agencies and white adoptive parents, such as Mia Farrow and Harry Holt of Holt International adoption agency. However, the needs of adult adopted U.S. citizens themselves have not yet been served.

Korean adoption began in the mid 1950s. Over 100,000 Korean children have since come to the United States and close to 77,000 are now of legal adult age. Minnesota has the countrys largest concentration of Korean adoptees. Korean adoptees are the oldest, largest, and most organized of the intercountry adoptee groups.

Minnesota is renowned for welcoming immigrants, refugees, and intercountry adoptees. We believe that adoptees of legal age should be granted the full rights of citizenship: we would like the option to sponsor the lawful immigration of our natural families. On behalf of all American intercountry adoptees, we ask that federal legislation to reform immigration policy for the families of these citizens begin with our honorable representatives from the great State of Minnesota.

Thank you for your consideration.

--American intercountry adoptees, supporters, and adoptive families