Opinion: I'm an American by adoption. Close the loophole for adoptees in citizenship limbo.
As an American citizen and adoptee, I know firsthand how the values and promises of America have made life exponentially better for those who were not born on these shores.
Twenty years ago, a single mother in a developing nation made a heartbreaking decision. I know very little about her, except that she desperately wanted to give me, her child, a better life – and that she knew in her heart of hearts that she couldn’t do it herself.
She sent me to an orphanage, believing as she gave me away that somewhere, in an uncertain future she knew nothing about, there would be the opportunity for me to grow up safe and happy and free, even if that future never involved her again. That dream was worth giving up her child, and hoping against hope that I could succeed in a world she simply couldn’t get me to.
As she no doubt predicted, she never did see me again. Yet I never write about this issue without thinking about my birth mother.
Two decades after we saw each other for the last time, I have two amazing parents and a job advancing the financial freedom and mobility of everyday Americans. I am more self-realized than I ever imagined.
My background has given me a perspective on the goodness of American immigration and assimilation that, if not always different from my center-right counterparts, is certainly very differently informed.
Immigration is a top election issue. Americans deserve better policy.
As the 2024 election cycle turns up the heat, immigration has again been taking center stage. The current wave of criticism against Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris for her role in crafting America’s immigration strategy has obvious causal roots, even if you disagree with Republican policy alternatives.
Simply put: The vast majority of Americans have serious policy questions about our pathway to immigration, and they’re not going anywhere. But my background and origin story have made one truth crystal clear to me: The immigration issue isn’t just a policy wonk debate. It speaks to the roots of how we perceive the American experiment ‒ and whether we see it as flexible enough to withstand the strain placed on it.
The adoption question directly relates to that: If we believe that international adoption to America is a good thing, we are inherently affirming that the American experiment is capable of and worthy of assimilation.
As an American by adoption, not blood, yet frankly far more confident in and optimistic about this nation’s story than many born here, my response: No, duh.
Citizenship loophole is long overdue to be closed
And yet our policy landscape doesn’t mirror that.
Take, as an example, the 2024 Adoptee Citizenship Act, co-sponsored by Sens. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, along with Reps. Adam Smith, D-Wash., and Don Bacon, R-Neb. The legislation highlights a serious problem for Americans legally adopted as children.
A bureaucratic loophole meant that those adopted American children grew up unaware that they were not, in fact, officially American citizens, a status posing potential problems in getting passports or securing financial aid. A 2000 law, the Child Citizenship Act, only succeeded in closing this loophole for those who had been adopted as children but were already older than 18 when it took effect. Those adopted before then remained in citizenship limbo.
As an American citizen and adoptee, I know firsthand how the values and promises of America have made life exponentially better for those who were not born on these shores. Yet, as a political commentator, I understand how even the greatest country in the history of the world can have its brightest promises dulled by the shadow of inefficient governmental regulation.
The Child Citizenship Act highlights a perfect example of how America’s modern bureaucratic state creates real-world issues for the vulnerable: Americans who came here as children and, through no fault of their own, fell through the cracks of the existing citizenship framework.
Our current moment is awash with all sorts of questions regarding the goodness of the American experiment and how deserving one must be to faithfully advance the American cause.
Right now, bloated government gridlock has resulted in real people being cut out of their deserved right to citizenship. If we care about America making good on its promises to its people, it’s far past time to remedy that.
Isaac Willour is a corporate analyst at Bowyer Research, a leading shareholder-first proxy consulting and corporate engagement firm. He is also an award-winning journalist and commentator with work at USA TODAY, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, C-SPAN and The New York Times. He writes for the National Council for Adoption and can be found on X:@IsaacWillour