Passport delay delivers gut punch on citizenship

Gabriele VanderWoude was still in diapers when she arrived in the United States , 53 years ago.

[japa]

well it seems odd that a foreign born (even being adopted) can become an automatic citizen.

but now homeland will probably get some nice hefty fees out of it on top of any fines they'll charge. nice.

[idontknowanymore]

this is so sad. to live your whole life here, be a good citizen, have your paperwork in order,pay your taxes, then have your government stick it to you like this!!!! This is what the U.S. has come to, I'm sorry, really really sorry that this has happened to you Gabriele.

[Amyadoptee]

This article is not about President Obama. It is about an adoptee who was adopted. She has all of the legal paperwork required to function in the day to day life of living as an American.

This is happening to non adoptees as well because they can not prove their birth. This is about a group of citizens who are being denied their rights under the law.

[Nonplussed]

idontknowanymore wrote:

this is so sad. to live your whole life here, be a good citizen, have your paperwork in order,pay your taxes, then have your government stick it to you like this!!!! This is what the U.S. has come to, I'm sorry, really really sorry that this has happened to you Gabriele.

Maybe you should have checked the rules back then, eh? This says something about how they were able to get an Illinois birth certificate and being able to vote.

[andy]

This article has absolutely nothing to do with immigrants (legal or otherwise) having babies in our country, so enough with the off-topic garbage.

This is about a baby born in Germany adopted by US citizens. It stands to reason that this child should have been naturalized upon adoption. Of course, resident aliens are eligible for a SSN, although I would have thought that the SSA would have noted the discrepancy (citizen vs resident alien).

[Jennifer]

This woman has committed (unknowingly) multiple offenses while believing she was a US citizen. She needs to get a very knowledgeable immigration attorney before going anywhere near Homeland Security. You are likely to see a very bad end to this story otherwise.

[Tony W]

These stories are much more common than one might think. In many cases, the foreign born infants were all brought in as US permanent residents, but had been told they were citizens their entire lives, either by family, schools, or, in many cases, the U.S. military. These can be sad, difficult cases because a false claim to US citizenship is grounds for deportation. Hopefully this person is dealt with fairly.

[No Name No Location]

My husband is going through the legal immigration process and all I can say is DHS along with USICS suck eggs...they don't know what they're doing and don't care about how they hold peoples lives and livelihood in their grimy little hands.