(Paper) Trail of Tears: The Deportation of Korean Adoptees from the U (Paper) Trail of Tears: The Deportation of Korean Adoptees from the U.S. and the Quest for Citizenship Ji-Hye Shin

Introduction Philip Clay and his suicide on May 21, 2017 - Transnational adoption as a form of child migration - Importance of documentation for child migrants - Quest for citizenship Un-naturalized Korean adoptees as noncitizens Adoptees as global family members? Vulnerability of Asian child migrants and their statelessness Legal identity of Korean adoptees in the U.S. and Korea: meaning of citizenship and belonging for child migrants

Children and Migration Jacqueline Bhabha: “the balance between ascriptive status and consensual identification shifts” & “citizenship is a status in process” (218) Are adoptees vulnerable children or successful adults? Un-naturalized Korean adoptees as undocumented children DeLeith Duke Gossett: peculiar position of transnational adoptees in the United States Un-naturalized Korean adoptees and de jure/de facto statelessness: initially legal migrants but, without naturalization, undocumented

Orphans and Adoptees Citizenship status of babies born on Ellis Island - Parents’ legal status Orphans and adoptees - Orphans admitted to the U.S. under bond - Adoption of internally displaced children of Europe after WWII - Adoption of war orphans after the Korean War: Holt Adoption Program (1956) 110,000 Korean children adopted by American parents between the 1950s and the present

Legal Identity of Korean Adoptees Adoption process: processing adoption before or after the child’s arrival in the U.S. - IR-4 visa (after): addition steps to take in the U.S. - IR-3 visa (before): process to be completed in the child’s country of origin Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (CCA): citizenship for legally adopted children under 18 years of age - Only for those on IR-3 visas - Not applicable for those born before 1983 (over 18) Korean adoptees sent on IR-4 visas until 2013 (Special Adoption Act)

Deportation Undocumented adoptees and deportation for minor and nonviolent crimes Citizenship status verification needed for more than 15,000 Korean adoptees to the United States Missing or inaccurate documentation - Possibility of military enlistment - Orphan family registry - Lack of interactions between agencies and government institutions Korean adoptees both de jure and de facto stateless

Undocumented Child Migrants As of 2015, 20,000 undocumented child migrants in Korea Possibility of deportation - Violation of human rights - Undocumented and stateless Recognition and support from nation-states Changes for child migrants through greater attention to Korean adoptees Call for transnational and intergovernmental cooperation

Conclusion Adam Crapser and his fight against American immigration authorities - Deported to Korea in 2016 Deportation as a form of “social death” & deported adoptees still considered “children” Humanitarian interests and concerns vs. deported Korean adoptees and undocumented children as violators of the law - Attention to the multiplicity of situations and various forms of stateless and citizenship for child migrants