Full Text of HJR0024 101st General Assembly
HJ0024 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 aimed to provide | 3 | | equal treatment under United States law for adopted and
| 4 | | biological children by granting citizenship to | 5 | | internationally-born adoptees; however, when the act became | 6 | | law, it did not
apply to internationally-born adoptees who were | 7 | | already over the age of 18; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, As a result, an estimated tens of thousands of | 9 | | adult legal adoptees who were born before February 27, 1982 and
| 10 | | raised in the United States remain without citizenship and are | 11 | | therefore potentially subject to deportation; these adoptees'
| 12 | | parents did not complete necessary processes to provide their | 13 | | adopted children with citizenship or, in many cases, even a
| 14 | | green card; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Several deportations of individuals who were | 16 | | legally adopted from foreign countries have already taken
| 17 | | place, breaking up families and returning the deported | 18 | | individuals to places where they were born but do not speak the
| 19 | | birth county's language, understand the culture, or have any | 20 | | connections; and | 21 | | WHEREAS, Adoptees who do not have citizenship have come | 22 | | from countries including Argentina, Brazil,
Colombia, Costa |
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| 1 | | Rica, Germany, Guatemala, El Salvador, India, Ireland, Haiti, | 2 | | Iran, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Philippines,
Russia, Ukraine, and | 3 | | Vietnam; there are an estimated 19,000 Korean American adoptees | 4 | | alone who do not have
American citizenship despite having been | 5 | | adopted; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, Two bills which would have granted citizenship to | 7 | | all adult adoptees were introduced with bipartisan support
in | 8 | | the l14th Congress, the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2015 | 9 | | (S.2275) and the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2016
(H.R.5454); | 10 | | neither bill was referred out of committee for a Congressional | 11 | | vote; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, Both bills sought to amend the Immigration and | 13 | | Nationality Act to grant automatic citizenship to all
| 14 | | qualifying children adopted by a U.S. citizen parent, | 15 | | regardless of the date on which the adoption was finalized; | 16 | | citizenship would be granted to any individual who was adopted | 17 | | by a U.S. citizen before age 18, was physically present
in the | 18 | | United States in the citizen parent's legal custody pursuant to | 19 | | a lawful admission before the individual reached age
18, never | 20 | | previously acquired U.S. citizenship, and was lawfully | 21 | | residing in the United States; the bills also would have
given | 22 | | adult adoptees who had already been deported the opportunity to | 23 | | return to the United States; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, When the biological children of U.S. citizen | 2 | | parents commit a crime, they are not subject to deportation; it | 3 | | is
discrimination for the adopted child of U.S. citizen parents | 4 | | to then be subject to deportation; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, S.2275 and H.R. 5454 stipulated that a visa may | 6 | | not be issued to an adoptee unless the individual was
subjected | 7 | | to a criminal background check and the Department of Homeland | 8 | | Security and Department of State coordinated
with law | 9 | | enforcement agencies to ensure that appropriate action is taken | 10 | | regarding any resolved criminal activity; in the
cases in which | 11 | | criminal activity has been properly resolved, the individuals | 12 | | would be eligible for U.S. citizenship; and
| 13 | | WHEREAS, Legislation is expected to be introduced into the | 14 | | 116th Congress that would grant U.S. citizenship to all
| 15 | | adoptees, including those who have been inhumanely deported; | 16 | | and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, Naturalization of adult adoptees who immigrated | 18 | | to the United States under the promise of finding a
permanent | 19 | | home is necessary to ensure that they are not forcibly removed | 20 | | from what has become their home country; therefore, be it
| 21 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 22 | | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE |
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| 1 | | SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we support, as a civil right, | 2 | | automatic
citizenship to all qualifying children adopted by a | 3 | | U.S. citizen parent, regardless of the date on which the | 4 | | adoption was
finalized, we condemn the deportation of | 5 | | individuals who were adopted into American
homes and should | 6 | | have every expectation that their citizenship matches that of | 7 | | their adoptive parents, and we welcome legislation that will | 8 | | provide citizenship for all adult adoptees whose adoptive | 9 | | parents did
not complete the naturalization process while they | 10 | | were children; and be it further | 11 | | RESOLVED, That we urge the
Congress of the United States | 12 | | and the President of the United States to enact legislation | 13 | | securing the citizenship of all
internationally adopted | 14 | | children who are now adults; and be it further
| 15 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 16 | | delivered to the President of the United States, the U.S. | 17 | | Senate Majority Leader, the U.S. Senate Minority Leader, the | 18 | | U.S. Speaker of the House, the U.S. House of Representatives | 19 | | Minority Leader, and all members of the Illinois Congressional | 20 | | Delegation.
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