US Threatens Deportation of Iranian-Born Adoptee to Iran

A woman, adopted from an Iranian orphanage by an American war veteran in the 1970s and raised as a Christian in the United States, faces deportation to Iran. The United States===United States Department of Homeland Security ordered her removal, citing an overstayed visa from 1974, despite her having no criminal record and having lived in the US for decades. Her adoptive parents failed to naturalize her, a common issue for adoptees before a 2000 law that was not made retroactive. Deportation to Iran is considered a potential death sentence for her due to her Christian faith and her father's military service, given Iran's persecution of Christian converts and heightened tensions with the US. A bipartisan coalition, including the Southern Baptist Convention, has been lobbying Congress to rectify this legal loophole for older adoptees.