A California woman who has spent virtually her entire life in the United States after being adopted from an Iranian orphanage by a U.S. veteran now finds herself staring down deportation to Iran. The Department of Homeland Security has ordered her to appear in immigration court, even though she has built what most would recognize as a textbook American life: a career in corporate health care, years of paying taxes and a home in California. She says she is terrified of being sent to Iran because she is a Christian. Advocates and legal experts argue her ordeal exposes a long-standing hole in U.S. citizenship law that has left thousands of older international adoptees exposed. A judge has already postponed her initial hearing and agreed she does not have to show up in person at the next session.
According to The Associated Press, the woman was discovered in an Iranian orphanage in 1972 and adopted by an American Air Force veteran and his wife when she was about two years old. The family moved back to the United States in 1973, and her adoption was finalized in 1975. She says she did not learn that she had never been naturalized until she applied for a U.S. passport at age 38. She also says DHS has maintained a file on her since at least 2008. Earlier this month, she received a letter stating she had overstayed a visa that supposedly expired in March 1974 and ordering her to appear in removal proceedings on March 4, 2026. Her attorney, Emily Howe, successfully asked a judge to delay that hearing until later next month and to allow her to appear remotely.
How the law left older adoptees exposed
The legal trouble traces back to the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, which simplified citizenship for many adopted children but did not apply retroactively. As explained by USCIS, the law generally covers children born on or after Feb. 28, 1983. Those who were already adults when the law took effect were left out of automatic citizenship. Before that change, adoptive parents had to complete separate naturalization paperwork for their children, and in many cases, that never happened, whether because parents died, documents went missing or everyone simply believed the system had already done its job.
Her story in context
Her adoptive father was a World War II prisoner of war who later worked as a government contractor in Iran. Local coverage reports that he and his wife found their future daughter in an orphanage in 1972 and raised her as a Christian. After the family returned to the United States, a local newspaper ran a full-page feature on their new daughter, seemingly marking a happy ending. Years later, she discovered a 1975 note from a lawyer among her father’s papers stating that her immigration matter "appears concluded," reinforcing the family’s belief that everything had been handled. She says she has repeatedly sought help from the State Department, immigration agencies and her member of Congress. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, she says Rep. Young Kim’s office told her it was "not able to advise or interfere."
Persecution risk if she’s returned
Advocates warn that, for her, deportation is not just a paperwork problem. Groups that track religious persecution report that converts to Christianity in Iran routinely face arrest and harsh prison conditions, and say women are often especially at risk. Ryan Brown of Open Doors told national coverage that an adoptee returning to Iran and viewed as a Christian convert could be treated as an enemy of the state. That concern has drawn in both faith-based organizations and immigration advocates, who are working to shield older adoptees in similar situations, according to News4Jax.
What’s next in court
Her lawyers say they will argue for discretionary relief and push to correct her citizenship record, framing the case as a decades-old administrative blunder rather than anything resembling criminal behavior. A judge agreed to postpone the initial immigration court date and to let her attend remotely while attorneys work to track down paperwork that is now decades old, as reported by WSLS. Her attorney says the delay buys time to mount a full legal challenge and pursue relief, including potential paths to eventual naturalization.
Why advocates want Congress to act
Advocates have spent years pushing for a legislative fix that would extend automatic citizenship to older international adoptees. Those proposals have drawn rare bipartisan support but have repeatedly stalled amid broader political fights over immigration policy. An Associated Press investigation cited estimates that between roughly 15,000 and 75,000 adoptees fall into this legal gray zone and reported that earlier bills aimed at helping them have been blocked, leaving many with only slow, expensive administrative options. Federal guidance from USCIS lists possible routes such as naturalization or applying for a certificate of citizenship, but advocates say those paths are often out of reach for people who lack complete or timely records.
The woman told the Associated Press she "never imagined it would get to where it is today," as she now faces a removal order tied to paperwork her parents either believed was underway or thought had already been resolved. Her lawyers and a network of faith groups and adoptee-rights organizations say they intend to pursue every legal option while pressing lawmakers to close the loophole so other adoptees do not end up in the same position.
