CITY OF SEATTLE
RESOLUTION __________________
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A RESOLUTION urging the President of the United States and the United States Congress to enact legislation securing the citizenship of internationally adopted adult individuals.
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WHEREAS, the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 aimed to provide equal treatment under United States law for adopted and biological children by granting citizenship to internationally-born adoptees. However, when the act became law, it did not apply to internationally-born adoptees who were already over the age of 18; and
WHEREAS, as a result, estimated tens of thousands of adult legal adoptees who were born before February 27, 1982 and raised in the United States are still undocumented and therefore potentially subject to deportation. These adoptees' parents did not complete necessary processes to provide their adopted children with citizenship, or in many cases, even a green card; and
WHEREAS, several deportations of individuals who were legally adopted from foreign countries have already taken place, breaking up families and returning the deported individuals to places where they were born but have no other connections; and
WHEREAS, adoptees who do not have citizenship have come from countries including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Germany, Guatemala, El Salvador, India, Ireland, Haiti, Iran, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Philippines, Russia, Ukraine, and Vietnam. There are an estimated 18,000 Korean American adoptees alone who do not have American citizenship despite having been legally adopted; and
WHEREAS, two bills which would have granted citizenship to adult adoptees were introduced with bipartisan support in the 114th Congress: the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2015 (S.2275), and the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2016 (H.R.5454). Neither bill was referred out of committee for a Congressional vote; and
WHEREAS, both bills sought to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to grant automatic citizenship to all qualifying childr...
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