Earlier this week, an immigration judge ruled that Korean American adoptee, Adam Crapser, will not be granted relief from pending deportation to South Korea. Crapser, who is married and has three small children, was adopted by an American couple at the age of three and is alienated from his birth country and culture.
According to the Associated Press, Crapser survived years of childhood abuse and neglect. Seven years after he and his older sister were brought to the U.S. as transnational adoptees, their adoptive parents relinquished them, leaving them vulnerable to a foster care system that immediately separated the siblings.
While under the guardianship of Thomas and Dolly Crapser, the couple was arrested on charges of physical child abuse, sexual abuse, and rape. Although both denied the charges, Thomas Crapser served ninety days in jail; Dolly Crapser received three years of probation. One of the events that led to Adam Crapser being threatened with deportation was an arrest when he broke into the Crapsers' home to retrieve the few items that came with him from the Korean orphanage: a pair of shoes and a Korean bible.
