Question about citizenship and deportation.

[Arkansas Granny]

One of my daughters in law is from Vietnam. She and my son have 2 children who were born in the US while my dil was a permanent resident, but before she became a naturalized citizen.

Since then, they have adopted 2 children from Vietnam, a niece and nephew of my dil. Everything was done legally with all the i's dotted and t's crossed.

Should I be worried about their status and possible deportation or is Trump only going after Hispanic individuals?

[Irish_Dem]

1. We don't yet know if other groups will be targeted.

And if legal foreign adoptions will be attacked or reversed.

I would think this group is going to be far down on the list.
But I don't know.

[Beastly Boy]

2. Two questions:

- Was your DIL a US citizen when the adoption of the niece and the nephew took place?
- Are the adopted children younger than 18 years old?

If the answer to both questions is yes, chances are the status of the kids is rock solid: they are under legal guardianship of their US citizen parents.There are no grounds to have them deported. It would be nearly impossible to even claim such legal grounds, much less enforce them.

Since I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, take my words with a grain of salt, especially considering how the current administration regards their their obligations under the law. It would be worthwhile to pay for a consultation with a real lawyer. Even if the legal status of the kids is absolutely solid, a lawyer may suggest some precautionary measures to make you sleep better at night.

[Arkansas Granny]

3. The answer to both questions is yes. She was a naturalized citizen

and both adopted children are under the age of 18.

It may seem silly to worry about this, but with the 🍊🤡 and his cohorts in office, you never know when or what atrocities he is planning.

[Beastly Boy]

4. In ordinary times, I would have said you don't have a cause for concern, but

these are not ordinary times. We are all vulnerable now - no exceptions.

[haele]

5. I have heard where adopted foreign born children were deported as adults

Because their parents did not complete a naturalization process for them. This was reported a couple times back in the mid 2000's when news in the Pacific NW covered several only English speaking Chinese and Korean adoptees who were getting deported for minor convictions as part of yet another "get tough on immigration effort".

I do know military families often adopt kids from overseas; the military has a process to get the kids proper citizenship, but a lot of civilian adoptions, especially the major for profit organizations, don't push the new parents to pursue citizenship for their adopted children.

[Arkansas Granny]

7. I'm sure my DIL followed procedure for both children. She is a stickler for detail.

One child was only 6 yo when she was adopted and I assume that she was naturalized at that time. The other adoption was several years later and he was 16 at the time. She sent me a picture of his naturalization papers.

I never expected to have these questions. I can't imagine how this is affecting immigrant families.

[DFW]

6. Like Beastly Boy said: these are not normal times.

At this point, the only project the Republicans have made sound reasonable is to build more prisons: to house those very same Republicans when (if!!) they next lose the presidency.

Rare sentences will by then have become commonplace. Five to fifteen years for assault committed during a false arrest or a groundless involuntary detention (e.g. detaining a US citizen on suspicion of having entered the country illegally).

Republicans would never let such a law pass, shouting that “anybody can make a mistake.” No chance, people, that’s a mistake a responsible government apparatus makes once every four years, if that, and not every four hours. Enablers and supporters with government posts who were in a position to help the wrongly detained, and didn’t (Pam Bondi, e.g.), get equally long sentences for their (in-)actions of cruelty.