As deportations are happening across the country, one local woman has her own worries. She was adopted as a baby and wanted to make sure she had citizenship papers. That started a domino effect, leading to fear and frustration. Now, Astrid-Ira McCarthy says she hopes her case serves as a warning for others to get their paperwork together.
According to what she has of her original adoption records, McCarthy's parents adopted her from India as a baby in 1989. She grew up in Minnesota. She said she grew up having no reason to believe she was not always a U.S. citizen, and that hasn't changed in light of her new discovery.
"I'm no less American than I was when I showed up here at 6 months," McCarthy said.
She always assumed her citizenship documents were in order. But when she went to apply for a passport, she realized she didn't have everything she needed.
"I didn't even know I needed this naturalization document to get the passport. Because we went to go get my birth certificate, but it says right on it that this isn't proof of citizenship. That's how we went through, got through everything, and figured out I needed this document," McCarthy said.
