Adam Crapser, a Korean American adoptee, criticized the South Korean government and his adoption agency in a Seoul courtroom for what he described a flawed adoption process.
The 49-year-old is suing for restitutions — eight years after his deportation from the United States, as he does not have citizenship.
Crapser is one of many international adoptees without citizenship because of a loophole in an American law — the Child Citizenship Act of 2000. The law provided automatic citizenship to all international adoptees under the age of 18.
Crapser was 25 when the law was enacted.
A bill that closes this loophole, the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2024, sits in Congress. It was introduced by Reps. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.) and Senators Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) earlier this year in June.
“As the father to two adopted children, I can’t imagine the uncertainty and anxiety faced by these adoptees who were legally adopted in our country, but are now being told they aren’t U.S. citizens,” Bacon said in a statement. “…Imagine being allowed to vote, paying into social security and enjoying other rights as a citizen, and then being told you are not a citizen. It makes zero sense, and this legislation corrects that egregious mistake.”
Crapser was an orphan in South Korea before his adoption by a family in Michigan in 1979, according to CNN.
However, Crapser’s adopted parents, Thomas and Dolly Crapser, abused him and their other adopted children, per the Washington Post. They were convicted of criminal mistreatment and assault.
The adoptive parents also never acquired Crapser’s citizenship, leaving the adoptee with the possibility of deportation after living in the U.S. for 37 years.
Crapser applied for a copy of his green card in 2013, which put him on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s radar — especially due to his past burglary and assault charges.
“ICE targeted Mr. Crapser for enforcement based on the severity of his criminal history, which includes multiple prior convictions for serious and violent offenses including assault, being a felon in possession of a weapon, and 3rd degree domestic violence,” agency spokeswoman Rose Richeson told CNN in a 2016 statement.
Crapser was arrested after breaking into his parents’ house to recover a Bible and shoes that were from South Korea, according to the Post. Along with his other convictions, Crapser’s record qualified him for deportation.
Crapser was denied relief by an immigration judge in 2016. He had no choice but to leave his family, including two children.
“I wanted to be with her,” Crapser said about his 10-year-old daughter to CNN. “I wanted to raise her… I wanted to do everything that I could to give her a life that I didn’t have. I want her to know definitively that since all of this started — before she was born — that I have been fighting this.”
There is a 10-year-ban in place for Crapser’s return to the U.S., though he has unsuccessfully tried to find ways to be with his children. If Crapser were to return before the decade is up, it could lead to a lifetime ban.
Crapser said he can file for waivers in two years, but it is not clear how long that process will be.
In his lawsuits, Crapser became the first ever Korean adoptee to sue the South Korean government and his adoption agency, Holt Children’s Services, for damages five years ago, according to CNN. He claimed the two were responsible for mishandling his adoption.
The Seoul Central District Court last year ordered the agency to compensate Crapser about $75,000 worth of damages. The case is under appeal.
Many in the adoptee rights community noted Crapser’s lawsuit win as significant, as it held the adoption agency accountable within the larger South Korean industry that many criticize as negligent and fraudulent, as reported by the Post.
A 70-year-old South Korean woman similarly sued the government, an adoption agency and orphanage earlier this month, after her daughter was kidnapped then adopted abroad in the U.S. in 1976.
The Seoul High Court will make its decision regarding Crapser’s restitutions next January.
