Why I hate adoptive parents

Reason 9. Anti-immigrant sentiment hurts your internationally-adopted children. Especially when it comes out of your mouth. Do you think that they know that they’re the “right” kind of immigrant when you talk? Do you think that being an adopted American will protect them from hostility towards people who look like them?

Additionally, please make sure that you have acquired citizenship and proof of citizenship for your children. I know you’re going to shriek that they’re citizens by law! And why should you have to pay to get proof? (By the way, in case you didn’t know, other immigrants pay to get proof. Adopted children who enter on IR-3 visas get a free certificate of citizenship. I don’t think any other class of immigrants does.)

Read stories like these:

Pedro Guzman, a U.S. citizen deported and now missing [UPDATE: He's been found!]

Jess Mustanich and Joao Herbert

And consider the known inflexibility of ICE, as well as the difficulty in obtaining documentation as the years pass:

Shawn Saucier, a spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said any request for a certificate of citizenship can take months to process, or significantly longer depending on the amount of documentation a person is able to provide.

In addition, he said, immigration law has changed so frequently over the years that older cases can be very complicated. “The burden is on the individual. We can’t just assume that because someone believes they’re a citizen, they are,” Saucier said.

Article here.

So you need proof and your parents are dead (or you’re estranged from them), what do you do?

Don’t forget the federal Real ID Act and its ramifications.

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