Unwitting and Unwelcome in Their Own Homes: Remedying the Coverage Gap in the Child Citizenship Act of 2000

• Author: Holland L. Hauenstein
• Position: J.D. Candidate, 2019, The University of Iowa College of Law; M.S., 2015, Purdue University; B.A., 2011, Grinnell College
• Pages: 2123-2150

2123

Unwitting and Unwelcome in Their Own

Homes: Remedying the Coverage Gap in

the Child Citizenship Act of 2000

Holland L. Hauenstein*

ABSTRACT: The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 has provided automatic

U.S. citizenship to countless foreign-born adoptees. Within the Act exists a

noticeable gap in coverage for those U.S. international adoptees who were over

the age of 18 as of the Act’s passage in 2001. As a result, tens of thousands

of U.S. adoptees are considered deportable non-citizens. The deportation of a

handful of U.S. adoptees, men and women who had lived nearly their entire

lives in the United States, has generated significant media attention and

public sympathy. However, Congress has yet to pass legislation, namely the

Adoptee Citizenship Act, amending the Child Citizenship Act to retroactively

grant citizenship status to those left unprotected. Adoptees and their advocates

cannot wait for this protection to be granted. This Note provides alternative

arguments and sources of law that adoptees and advocates should consider

in deportation proceedings and in broader legislative lobbying efforts. In

particular, this Note argues that the Child Citizenship Act, as it stands,

cannot withstand equal protection scrutiny, encouraging courts to apply a

more heightened standard than rational basis review. These arguments aim

to persuade courts to reverse the deportable status of many U.S. international

adoptees and to further motivate Congress to amend the Child Citizenship

Act.

I.INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... 2125

II.UNDERSTANDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF U.S. AND

INTERNATIONAL LAW SURROUNDING INTERNATIONAL

ADOPTIONS ................................................................................. 2127

A.HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION AND RELATED

LAW IN THE UNITED STATES .................................................. 2127

1.The Origins and Development of International

Adoption in the United States ................................... 2127

*

J.D. Candidate, 2019, The University of Iowa College of Law; M.S., 2015, Purdue

University; B.A., 2011, Grinnell College.

2124 IOWA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 104:2123

2.The Hague Convention on the Protection of

Children and Co-operation in Respect of

Intercountry Adoption ................................................ 2129

3.The Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 ................... 2131

4.The United Nations Convention on the Rights

of the Child .................................................................. 2131

B.CHILD CITIZENSHIP ACT OF 2000 .......................................... 2133

III.THE PROBLEM CREATED BY A GAP IN COVERAGE IN THE

CHILD CITIZENSHIP ACT AND FAILED ATTEMPTS TO

RECTIFY LACK OF COVERAGE ...................................................... 2134

A.ADULT ADOPTEES LEFT UNPROTECTED FOLLOWING THE

PASSAGE OF THE CHILD CITIZENSHIP ACT .............................. 2134

B.STALLED LEGISLATIVE ATTEMPTS TO CLOSE THE

COVERAGE GAP ..................................................................... 2139

IV.ADOPTEES AND ADVOCATES SHOULD LOOK TO JUDGE-MADE

LAW AND U.S. OBLIGATIONS UNDER RELEVANT

INTERNATIONAL TREATIES FOR REMEDIES IN LIEU OF

PENDING LEGISLATIVE PROTECTION .......................................... 2140

A.APPLICATION OF EQUAL PROTECTION CLAIMS OF

SELECTED IMMIGRATION CASES ............................................. 2141

1.Yick Wo v. Hopkins ........................................................ 2141

2.Sessions v. Morales-Santana ........................................... 2142

B.COURTS SHOULD FIND THE CHILD CITIZENSHIP ACT

DOES NOT SURVIVE RATIONAL BASIS REVIEW .......................... 2143

1.Rational Basis Scrutiny and “Rational Basis

with Bite” ...................................................................... 2143

2.Adult International Adoptees Deserve

Protections as a Discrete and Insular Minority ......... 2144

3.Serving Certain Government Interests, the

Child Citizenship Undermines Others ...................... 2145

4.U.S. Treatment of Legitimacy of Birth Lends

Support to Protecting Those Adversely Affected

by the Child Citizenship Act ....................................... 2146

C.THEORETICAL PROTECTIONS AVAILABLE UNDER THE SALE

OF CHILDREN PROTOCOL ....................................................... 2147

D.CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTIONS SHOULD FURTHER MOTIVATE

CONGRESS TO CORRECT THE COVERAGE GAP .......................... 2148

V.CONCLUSION .............................................................................. 2149