Asylum Granted
Judge Grants Asylum to US-Born Woman Adopted by Veteran, Ending Deportation Threat
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A federal immigration judge granted asylum on June 15 to a 56-year-old California woman who has lived in the United States for 52 years after being adopted as a toddler by an American war veteran — ending a monthslong ordeal that had pushed her to the edge of deportation to Iran. AP News reported that Judge Andrew Fishkin declared her a refugee, officially halting removal proceedings and opening a path to a green card.
The woman, known publicly only as "Ms. S" or by her nickname "Buttons," was born in Iran around 1970, orphaned, and adopted at age two by a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel who had been a prisoner of war in Germany. She arrived in the U.S. in 1974 on a tourist visa. Her parents never completed the naturalization process, leaving her in legal limbo for decades, according to Military.com.
ICE Detention and a 52-Year American Life on the Line
In February 2026, the Department of Homeland Security sent Ms. S a formal letter ordering her to appear for removal proceedings. The government's stated reason: she overstayed the tourist visa she arrived on as a four-year-old in 1974. ICE agents later took her into custody. She spent six days and five nights in a cramped detention room at a facility in Billerica, Massachusetts, before being released with an ankle monitor, according to Military.com.
Ms. S speaks only English, has no criminal record, and works as a healthcare professional. "I've never had any other identity besides American," she said, according to NPR. "How could the United States send someone to their death in a country they left as an orphan?" Advocates noted that deportation to Iran — a country she has not lived in since infancy and whose language she does not speak — would amount to a death sentence.
Lost Embassy Records from 1979 Helped Seal the Ruling
Judge Fishkin's decision hinged partly on a historical event: the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by militants. Legal experts and the judge believe that Ms. S's original adoption and immigration records were likely lost or destroyed during that crisis, according to AP News. That missing paper trail made it nearly impossible for her to prove her legal status through normal channels.
DHS had been building a file on her case since at least 2008. That file grew to over 1,000 pages, according to OPB. Despite years of awareness, the government continued to pursue deportation. Her lead attorney, Emily Howe, called the case an "obscene failure of a broken system" and urged Congress to act immediately.
A Legal Loophole Left Up to 75,000 Adoptees Stateless
Ms. S is not alone. Between 15,000 and 75,000 international adoptees in the U.S. currently lack citizenship because of a gap in the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, according to the Adoptee Rights Campaign. That law gave automatic citizenship to many foreign-born adoptees — but only to those who were under 18 when it took effect in February 2001. Ms. S was already an adult. The law also did not cover children who entered on tourist visas, as she did.
The U.S. government has previously deported adoptees from South Korea, Brazil, and other countries over similar paperwork failures by their American parents. Joy Alessi of the Adoptee Rights Campaign said adoptees in this situation are treated as "second-class citizens." Advocates are now pushing for the Adoptee Citizenship Act, which would close the loophole and grant retroactive citizenship to all international adoptees, regardless of age.
Asylum Status Opens Path to Permanent Residency
The asylum grant does more than stop deportation. It officially recognizes Ms. S as a refugee under U.S. law. That status makes her eligible for a work permit right away and for permanent residency — a green card — after one year, according to AP News. Legal analysts called the ruling significant because it creates a possible template for other aging adoptees in similar limbo, especially those whose home-country records were lost in conflict zones.
The government still has time to appeal the ruling, leaving Ms. S's situation not fully resolved. Veteran groups have rallied behind her, viewing the attempted deportation as an insult to her father's WWII service and his time as a prisoner of war. Her father, who is now deceased, was also a recipient of the Air Medal, according to Military.com.
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