Delaware: Adopted Daughter of US Veteran Faces Deportation to Iran

A woman adopted as a child by an American Air Force veteran from an Iranian orphanage now faces deportation to Iran due to a citizenship paperwork error from the 1970s. The Christian woman, who has no criminal record, could face persecution or death if sent to Iran, where tensions with the US are escalating.

A Delaware-area woman who was rescued from an Iranian orphanage by a US Air Force veteran in the 1970s now faces the terrifying possibility of being sent back to Iran – a nation where her Christian faith could mean imprisonment or death.

The woman, whose identity is being protected due to her precarious legal status, represents one of thousands of international adoptees who fell through cracks in America’s adoption and immigration systems and never received citizenship.

Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security sent her a notice to appear before an immigration judge in California for deportation proceedings. Her alleged crime? Overstaying her visa in March 1974 – when she was just 4 years old. She has no criminal history.

“I never imagined it would get to where it is today,” the woman explained, expressing her fear that being sent to Iran as a Christian and daughter of an American military officer could result in her death. “I always told myself that there is no way that this country could possibly send someone to their death in a country they left as an orphan. How could the United States do that?”

Her fears have intensified as the Trump administration has deployed significant military assets to the Middle East, raising the possibility of armed conflict with Iran over nuclear negotiations.

The Associated Press had previously featured this woman’s story in 2024, highlighting how numerous foreign adoptees remained without citizenship because their American parents failed to complete naturalization procedures. She has spent years attempting to resolve her legal status, meaning DHS has known about her case since at least 2008. She estimates government files on her situation span thousands of pages, though she cannot explain why deportation proceedings began now.

While the Trump administration emphasizes removing dangerous criminals through mass deportations, many individuals without criminal backgrounds have been caught up in enforcement actions. This woman’s only law enforcement encounter was a traffic stop two decades ago for phone use while driving. She maintains employment in corporate healthcare, pays taxes regularly, and owns property in California.

“When the media refuses to give names, it makes it impossible to provide details on specific cases or even verify any of this even happened or that the people even exist. If you can’t do your job, we can’t do ours,” DHS responded in a statement. The AP provided detailed information about her deportation letter, including specific reasons cited and her March 4 court date, without revealing her identity.

An immigration judge postponed her hearing until later next month and granted her attorney Emily Howe’s request that the woman not appear in person – providing relief since they worried immigration agents might arrest her at the courthouse.

Her adoptive father endured capture by German forces during World War II in 1943, remaining a prisoner until the war ended. After retiring from Air Force service, he worked as a government contractor in Iran, where he and his wife discovered her at an orphanage in 1972 and adopted her at age 2.

The family returned to America in 1973, with local newspapers running a full-page feature about their new daughter. Her adoption finalized in 1975, but parents were required to separately naturalize adopted children through federal immigration agencies at that time. Both adoptive parents have since passed away.

She discovered her lack of citizenship only when applying for a passport at 38. The reason for this oversight remains unclear. Among her father’s documents, she found a 1975 letter from an attorney stating he was coordinating with immigration officials, noting “it appears this matter is concluded,” and billing her father for services rendered.

Rather than hiding her situation, she has spent years seeking assistance from various sources: the State Department, immigration authorities, and senators. She has reached out to her congresswoman, Republican Rep. Young Kim of California, without success. Kim’s office recently responded to her deportation concerns by stating they were “not able to advise or interfere.”

“It just baffles me that it’s OK to send me to a foreign country that I could potentially die or I could get imprisoned because of a clerical error,” she stated.

Contemporary adoptees avoid this legal uncertainty thanks to legislation Congress passed in 2000, automatically granting citizenship to all legally adopted foreign children. However, lawmakers did not apply this retroactively, and it only covered those under 18 when enacted, excluding everyone born before February 27, 1983.

A diverse coalition spanning from the Southern Baptist Convention to progressive immigration organizations has lobbied Congress continuously to pass additional legislation helping older adoptees excluded from the original law, but Congress has not taken action. These advocates say the current deportation threat represents exactly the scenario they worked to prevent.

“I’m horrified. It’s rare for me to feel shocked by a story these days. But this is an absolutely unbelievable situation,” said Hannah Daniel, former director of public policy for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the Southern Baptist Convention’s lobbying division, who spent years urging legislators to address this issue.

International adoption has traditionally received bipartisan support from lawmakers. Many Christian denominations promote international adoption as a religious obligation, reflecting God’s acceptance of believers into a spiritual family.

Daniel, who recently joined World Relief, a Christian humanitarian organization, believes threatening to deport a Christian adoptee to Iran creates a conflict between two causes she and fellow Christians strongly support: international adoption and protecting persecuted Christians worldwide.

“That is what is most troubling to me about this: We are a nation that prides itself on fighting for religious freedom both here and abroad,” Daniel explained. “And it feels so antithetical to that to then say we’re going to send this person who, for me, is a sister in Christ to face a death sentence.”

She described the situation as “un-American and unconscionable.”

Ryan Brown, chief executive of Open Doors, a nonprofit supporting persecuted Christians globally, explained that while some Iranians are born Christian and face widespread discrimination, those considered converts from Islam to Christianity face much worse treatment. He expects a deported adoptee would be classified as a convert.

“It is assumed that you are an enemy of the state. It is assumed that if you are a Christian, that you are aligned to the West and you desire to see that the regime toppled,” he explained. “There is no benefit of the doubt extended.”

Converted Christians face routine arrests, with some receiving death sentences.

“Their prisons are world renowned for their deplorable conditions,” Brown noted.

Iranian facilities lack proper sanitation, with limited food, water, and medical care. These prisons are “notoriously more evil for women,” he said, with female inmates regularly reporting sexual assault by guards and forced marriages.

Brown, himself an adoptive parent, found it difficult to imagine what a Christian woman accustomed to American freedoms might endure arriving in Iran. She speaks no Persian and knows nothing about Iranian customs, having lived an entirely American life.

“I cannot even fathom that,” Brown said. “My prayers are with her.”

The woman believes Iran would view her with additional suspicion given her father’s military background and work as a US government contractor.

She grew up hearing her father’s wartime experiences and reading his prison camp journal, documenting the cold and hunger he endured. She felt proud of his sacrifices and service to the country she believed had rescued her.

During difficult moments now, she looks at her favorite photograph of him in military dress uniform, medals displayed on his left shoulder, wearing a subtle, confident smile.

“I’m proud of my father’s legacy. I’m part of his legacy. And what’s happening to me is wrong,” she said. “And I know that he was here, it would break his heart to know that I’m on this path.”