A South Korean man is being deported after having been adopted and brought to the U.S. decades ago.
Adam Crapser was flown to the U.S. 37 years ago, adopted by an American couple at the age of 3. He's now a husband and father, with two little girls.
"It is heartbreaking news," said Dae Joong (DJ) Yoon, executive director of the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium, The Associated Press reported. "I'm sure he doesn't have any idea what he can do in Korea."
Crapser is currently in an immigration detention center in Tacoma, Washington, waiting to be deported.
“He has been in detention for almost nine months,” said Becky Belcore, a woman who also was adopted and brought to the U.S. from South Korea at just 1 year old and met Crapser in a courtroom, the AP said. “He’s been separated from his children. It is really hard for him.”
Crapser lived in foster and group homes after his adoptive parents — who neglected to get his citizenship papers, NPR reported — abandoned him and his sister, who also was adopted. Two years later at age 12, he would go to live with Thomas and Dolly Crapser, who physically abused him. They were convicted in 1991.
Crapser began a criminal record when he was arrested for breaking into his parents' home to retrieve the Korean Bible and shoes from his childhood. He would later add auto theft and assault on a roommate, the AP noted.
Those criminal convictions made Crapser eligible for deportation after immigration officials found out he lacked U.S. citizenship when he applied for a green card two years ago.
"He will be deported as soon as Immigration and Customs Enforcement makes the necessary arrangements," said Lori Walls, Crapser’s attorney, the AP reported. "Adam, his family, and advocates are heartbroken at the outcome."
According to Yoon’s group, there are about 35,000 adoptees in the U.S. who don’t have citizenship.