***MEDIA ADVISORY & PUBLIC NOTICE***
Adoptee Rights Campaign
Contact: Info@adopteerightscampaign.org
Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA— Daughter of U.S. Military Hero Faces Deportation
to Iran, Advocates Call for Urgent Legislative Action
Legal advocates, faith-based leaders, and community members are urging protections for a California resident who was brought to the U.S. by her American parents from Iran.
Despite being raised by U.S. citizen parents and having no memories of her country of birth, the woman is in active immigration removal proceedings that threaten to deport her to Iran, where the U.S. has not held diplomatic ties since 1980. Her father, a decorated WWII U.S. Air Force veteran, survived a German POW camp and death march before bringing her home to the U.S.
The woman has been an integral part of her community for more than thirty years. She graduated from a California university, built a career in healthcare, and is a tax-paying professional. She has no criminal history.
“I have no home other than this country,” she says. “I was raised by my American parents and with American values. To be told that I am suddenly a stranger here, and to be threatened with lifetime exile to a country I know little of, is terrifying.”
Iran is facing the worst human-rights crisis in years with security forces cracking down on nationwide protests through lethal force, mass killings, arbitrary arrests, and an unprecedented surge in executions.
Legal advocates are asking federal officials to exercise prosecutorial discretion and correct her records given her extraordinary circumstances, lifelong U.S. residency, and American family history.
The Human Cost of Legal Gaps
Experts say that her case highlights a devastating “gap” in protections for children who were brought to the U.S. before modern adoption reforms were enacted. “This is a heartbreaking, obscene failure of a broken system,” says Emily Howe, lead counsel. “Sending a woman who is culturally and socially American, a daughter of a U.S. military hero, to Iran—a nation hostile toward those with Western ties—is a fundamental injustice. We seek compassion and basic correction to protect these American families in the 21st century.”
CALL TO ACTION: PROTECT AMERICAN FAMILIES ACT The long-term solution lies in federal law. The Protect Adoptees and American Families Act (PAAF Act), introduced in 2025 as H.R. 5492 and S. 2923, aims to close the loopholes that allow American-raised children to face deportation. However, the pending bill does not explicitly include children brought into the country on certain visas decades ago.
We ask all concerned citizens to take immediate action to ensure no more daughters or sons of American families are cast out!!!
1. Contact Your Members of Congress: Call or email your U.S. Representative and Senators.
2. Message: Urge them to co-sponsor and pass the Protect Adoptees and American Families Act (H.R. 5492 / S. 2923).
3. Demand Inclusion: Ask that the legislation be strengthened to include protections for those who entered the U.S. on visas decades ago and have been raised as Americans.
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Bastard Nation will release a statement shortly.
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