Adam Crapser spent his 40th birthday in court, fighting to stay in the only country he knows.
The Portland man is facing deportation over issues related to his adoption from Korea as a child and incomplete paperwork.
Crapser and his sister both came to the United States from South Korea when he was 3 years old. They were later abandoned by their adoptive parents, separated into foster care and then sent separate ways.
His sister was adopted by a family and got her citizenship, while Crapser ended up with abusive foster parents who neglected to finalize his naturalization.
Crapser ended up living on the streets and stealing to survive.
Decades later, Crapser is a husband and a father with another baby on the way.
When he tried to update his legal status a couple years ago, his earlier criminal history raised a red flag for immigration authorities, and he now faces the possibility of being sent back to the country where we was born.
Crapser doesn’t speak Korean and doesn’t know how he’ll get by there.
“I won’t make it if you send me. You’re sentencing me to death for crimes I’ve already done hard time for,” Crapser said. “Listen to my voice. I’m an American. I’ve been here my whole life. I don’t know anything else.”
In 2009, Congress passed a bill making all international adoptees automatic U.S. citizens, but the law isn’t retroactive, so Crapser and other adoptees like him live with the risk of deportation.
U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley supports Crapser’s fight to stay in the United States and is taking action on Capitol Hill. He and another senator are proposing a standalone bill to extend U.S. citizenship to all international adoptees.
In the meantime, Crapser continues his fight in court. His next hearing is scheduled for June.