She was an orphan adopted from Iran by a US veteran. The Trump administration wants to deport her

A woman adopted as a toddler by an American war veteran, who he found in the 1970s in an Iranian orphanage and raised as a Christian, is being threatened with deportation to Iran, a country notoriously dangerous for Christians and on the brink of war with the United States NewsShe was an orphan adopted from Iran by a US veteran. The Trump administration wants to deport herA woman adopted as a toddler by an American war veteran, who he found in the 1970s in an Iranian orphanage and raised as a Christian, is being threatened with deportation to Iran, a country notoriously dangerous for Christians and on the brink of war with the United StatesClaire Galofaro Saturday 21 February 2026 14:58 GMTBookmarkBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popoverShe was an orphan adopted from Iran by a US veteran. The Trump administration wants to deport herShow all 2Your support helps us to tell the storyRead moreSupport NowFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreA woman adopted as a toddler by an American war veteran, who he found in the 1970s in an Iranian orphanage and raised as a Christian, is being threatened with deportation to Iran, a country notoriously dangerous for Christians and now on the brink of war with the United States.She is one of thousands adopted from abroad who were never granted citizenship because of a fracture at the intersection of adoption and immigration law.The woman, who The Associated Press is not naming because of her legal situation, received a letter from the Department of Homeland Security earlier this month ordering her to appear for removal proceedings before an immigration judge in California. She has no criminal record. The letter says she is eligible for deportation because she overstayed her visa in March 1974 at 4 years old.“I never imagined it would get to where it is today,” said the woman, who believes that, as a Christian and the daughter of an American Air Force officer, deportation to Iran might be a death sentence. “I always told myself that there is no way that this country could possibly send someone to their death in a country they left as an orphan. How could the United States do that?”The already terrifying prospect of being deported to Iran was made more so in recent days, she said, as the Trump administration began amassing the largest force of American warships and aircraft in the Middle East in decades, preparing for possible military action against Iran if talks over its nuclear program fail.The Associated Press profiled the woman in 2024 as part of a story about how many international adoptees were left without citizenship because their American adoptive parents failed to naturalize them. The woman has tried to rectify her legal status for years, so the Department of Homeland Security has been aware of her situation since at least 2008. She guesses their file on her is thousands of pages long. She does not know what prompted the sudden threat of removal.The Trump administration has been on a mass deportation campaign, touting that it is removing the “worst of the worst” criminals. But many with no criminal records have been swept up. The only interaction with law enforcement the woman can recall is being pulled over 20 years ago for using her phone while driving. She works a job in corporate health care, pays taxes and owns a home in California. “When the media refuses to give names, it makes it impossible to provide details on specific cases or even verify any of this even happened or that the people even exist. If you can’t do your job, we can’t do ours," the Department of Homeland Security wrote in a statement. The AP did not provide them the woman's name, but sent a detailed description of the letter she received, the stated reasons she is eligible for deportation and the date she was ordered to appear in court, March 4. A judge delayed the hearing to later next month and agreed with her attorney, Emily Howe, to specify the woman does not have to appear in person — a relief as they worried immigration officers would be waiting at the courthouse to take her away. Adopted in Iran when she was 2 The woman's father was a prisoner of war in Germany during World War II, captured in 1943 and held until the end of the war. When he retired from the Air Force, he worked as a government contractor in Iran, where he and his wife found her in an orphanage in 1972 and adopted her. She was 2 years o