Key facts
- A federal immigration judge granted asylum to a woman adopted from Iran by a US veteran.
- The woman, who has lived in the US since she was a toddler, faced deportation proceedings.
- She was threatened with deportation due to a bureaucratic oversight in her naturalization process.
- The judge ruled that documents from the US Embassy in Tehran are unavailable, impacting her case.
- The ruling provides a pathway for the woman to be recognized as a US citizen.
A federal immigration judge has granted asylum to a woman adopted from Iran by a US veteran, ending a months-long ordeal. The woman, who has lived in the United States since she was adopted as a toddler in the 1970s, faced deportation threats due to a bureaucratic loophole that left her without citizenship.
Immigration officials had ordered the woman, who has no criminal record and speaks only English, to appear for removal proceedings, stating she overstayed her visa in 1974. She described the experience as terrifying and humiliating, including being fingerprinted, having her DNA taken, and being tracked with an ankle monitor while maintaining her corporate job.
Her lawyer, Emily Howe, criticized the government's treatment of her client, comparing it to that of a terrorist. The woman's parents, who were living in Iran where her father worked for a US government contractor, adopted her in the 1970s. At that time, parents were required to separately naturalize adopted children, an oversight that left the woman without citizenship.
She discovered this when applying for a passport at age 38 and suspects her paperwork was lost, possibly during the 1979 US Embassy seizure in Tehran. Judge Fishkin, in his ruling, noted the unavailability of documents from that embassy and declared her a refugee, placing her on a path to citizenship.