For immediate release
June 4, 2024
Organizations Applaud the Reintroduction of the Adoptee Citizenship Act in Congress
Washington, D.C. – Today, the Adoptee Citizenship Act was reintroduced in both the House and Senate. Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Susan Collins (R-ME) brought forth the bill in the Senate, while Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA) and Congressman Don Bacon (R-NE) reintroduced the bill in the House of Representatives. This is the fifth time the bipartisan bill has been introduced in Congress.
“We are thankful to the co-sponsors of the Adoptee Citizenship Act for championing the rights of adoptees to obtain the citizenship they rightfully deserve,” applauded Amanda Cho, Policy Manager for the Alliance For Adoptee Citizenship and Korean American adoptee. “We cannot have the better life that was promised to us through our adoptions without citizenship. We must work together to ensure that this vital piece of legislation becomes a reality this year.”
Judy van Arsdale, a Taiwanese American adoptee without citizenship and long-time member of Adoptees For Justice, responded. “The Adoptee Citizenship Act is not just legislation; it’s a lifeline. Without it, as we enter our senior years, we cannot access the fundamental benefits we have been contributing to our entire lives, including Social Security and Medicare. Its passage would significantly improve our lives and offer countless intercountry adoptees like us the opportunity to fully benefit from the country we have called home for so long.”
Becky Belcore, co-director of the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC) and Adoptees For Justice: “As a network of affiliate organizations based in Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia, the NAKASEC network urges our Members of Congress to support the passage of this crucial legislation. We continuously witness the profound need to fix the gap in the law as more adoptees without citizenship contact us each month. Their stories underscore the urgent need for the Adoptee Citizenship Act now.”
Richard Macintyre, partner at the Family Coalition for Adoptee Citizenship (FCAC), a member of the Alliance for Adoptee Citizenship, reacted: “It’s appalling that people who offer adoption to children from other countries could find out years later that their children were not provided U.S. citizenship and suffered from that the remainder of their lives, never even being eligible to receive Social Security benefits they worked toward all their lives. Thank God we took the steps to secure our daughter’s citizenship when it was still possible. The Adoptee Citizenship Act is necessary to correct this injustice.”
Background: For the past ten years, Adoptees For Justice and other advocates have worked diligently to pass the Adoptee Citizenship Act. The federal bill would effectively close a date gap created by the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, and grant citizenship to thousands of adoptees who were legally adopted and brought to the U.S. as children by their U.S. citizen parents. If passed, the bill will enable thousands of adoptees to access critical supports like disability benefits, social security, housing, and education loans, and provide a pathway for adoptees who have been unjustly deported to return home and be reunited with their families. Most recently, the bill passed the House in the 117th Congress and continues to amass widespread bipartisan support across both chambers.
To learn more about the challenges experienced by adoptees without citizenship a
and take action to advance the passage of the Adoptee Citizenship Act, please visit: www.allianceforadopteecitizenship.org
Media contact: Amanda Cho, amanda@adopteealliance.org, 404-287-2409
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Adoptees For Justice is an intercountry adoptee-led organization whose mission is to educate, empower, and organize transracial and transnational adoptee communities to achieve just and humane adoption, immigration, and restorative justice systems.
Adoptees For Justice is a project of the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC), and is a co-founding member of the Alliance for Adoptee Citizenship (AAC). AAC is a coalition of 11 local and national organizations dedicated to passage of the Adoptee Citizenship Act.
입양인시민권법안 연방의회 재상정
안녕하세요. 6월 4일(화) 연방의회에 드디어 입양인시민권법안이 재상정 됐습니다. 이번에는 연방상원과 하원에서 동시에 상정됐습니다. 상원에서는 마지 히로노(민주/하와이)와 수잔 콜린스(공화/메인) 의원이, 하원에서는 아담 스미스(민주/워싱턴)와 돈 베이컨(공화/네브래스카) 의원이 공동 발의했습니다. 입양인시민권법안은 시민권이 없는 입양인들이 추방 위협에서 벗어나고, 복지혜택 등을 받을 수 있도록 시민권 취득 권한을 부여하는 것입니다.
그동안 민권센터가 함께하고 있는 전국 한인 권익단체 ‘미주한인봉사교육단체협의회(NAKASEC)’는 산하에 입양인정의연맹(Adoptees for Justice)을 결성하고 입양인 자신들이 직접 나서 법 제정을 촉구할 수 있도록 도왔습니다. 그 결과 4일 법안 상정이 다시 이뤄지게 된 것입니다. 입양인정의연맹은 그동안 꾸준히 연방의원 사무실을 직접 방문하거나(5월/10월), 온라인으로 모임을 가지며 법안 상정과 지지를 촉구해왔습니다.
이제 입양인정의연맹은 법안 의회 통과와 대통령의 서명을 통한 법 제정을 위해 또 다시 온 힘을 다할 것입니다. 여러분의 도움이 필요합니다.
(1) 입양인정의연맹에 기부를 해주세요. 기금은 연방의회 활동뿐아니라 입양인 시민권 이슈를 곳곳에 알려 지원을 이끌어내는데 꼭 필요합니다.
(2) 살고 있는 지역구 연방의원들에게 법안 지지를 촉구해주세요.
(3) 입양인정의연맹의 의원실 방문 등에 직접 참여해주세요.
이와 같은 활동에 대해서는 입양인정의연맹 웹사이트(https://www.adopteesforjustice.org/) 에서 자세히 살펴볼 수 있습니다. 그리고 이메일(amanda@adopteealliance.org) 로 문의하면 됩니다. 안녕히 계세요.
