{"id":2995,"date":"2012-05-29T11:30:15","date_gmt":"2012-05-29T11:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.againstchildtrafficking.org\/?p=2995"},"modified":"2012-05-29T16:31:40","modified_gmt":"2012-05-29T16:31:40","slug":"utah-woman-adopted-from-indian-orphanage-thirty-years-ago-now-faces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/utah-woman-adopted-from-indian-orphanage-thirty-years-ago-now-faces\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah woman adopted from Indian orphanage THIRTY years ago now faces"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk
\n<\/a>By Daily Mail Reporter
\nPUBLISHED: 14:45 GMT, 29 May
\n29 May 2012<\/p>\n

Deportation battle: Attorneys are fighting to stop Kairi
\nShepherd, who was adopted from India as a 3-month-old baby, being deported<\/p>\n

A 30-year-old woman who has lived in the U.S
\nsince she was adopted from an orphanage in India as a baby is facing deportation
\nafter a court ruled she is living in the country illegally.<\/p>\n

Kairi Shepherd, who has been orphaned twice
\nfollowing the death of her biological Indian mother when she was just
\n3-months-old and her adoptive American mother, has described the deportation
\norder as a ‚death sentence.‘<\/p>\n

Shepherd could be thrown out of the country
\nbecause her adoptive mother, a widow from Utah who died of breast cancer when
\nShepherd was eight, never filed citizenship paperwork for her.<\/p>\n

Last week Indian authorities highlighted the
\n‚humanitarian dimension‘ of Shepherd’s case – urging the U.S. to deal with the
\n\u2018utmost sensitivity and compassion.‘<\/p>\n

Despite this plea the U.S. Immigration and
\nCustoms Enforcement (ICE) has confirmed ‚Shepherd has a final order of removal‘
\n– adding that she was ’not in ICE custody at this time.‘<\/p>\n

Outlining the deportation procedure, ICE said
\nthey must first obtain a travel document to ensure ‚the receiving country will
\nadmit the alien who is being returned.‘<\/p>\n

India have not yet provided these crucial
\ntravel documents.<\/p>\n

Following a media outcry over the case,
\nShepherd, who was thought to be living under the radar in Utah to avoid
\ndetection, spoke out to deny she was in hiding.<\/p>\n

‚I am afraid of being deported. Who wouldn’t
\nbe in my condition? But I have never been in hiding or concealed my whereabouts.
\nAnd I have no intention of absconding from the law,‘ she said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Although Congress passed a law granting
\nautomatic citizenship to foreign adopted children Shepherd is 11 months too old
\nto qualify.
\nEarlier this month, a Denver-based appellate
\ncourt upheld an immigration court\u2019s ruling that Shepherd does not qualify for
\nautomatic citizenship under the Child Citizenship Act of 2000.<\/p>\n

Shepherd, who suffers from multiple sclerosis
\nand has never been back to India, previously said in a statement: ‚The deportation order which may
\nforce me to part from my physicians, family, and friends here, could be a death
\nsentence to me.‘<\/p>\n

‚Death sentence‘: Immigration officials issued Shepherd
\nwith a deportation order in 2010 after she spent time in jail for probation
\nviolation. Shepherd, who has no connections in India, has described the
\ndeportation order as a ‚death sentence‘<\/p>\n

Aged 17, Shepherd was arrested and convicted
\nfor forging checks to fund an alleged drug habit, reported the Deseret
\nNews.<\/p>\n

In a separate offence, Shepherd pleaded guilty
\nto a charge of attempted forgery and was jailed in Salt Lake City in
\n2004.<\/p>\n

After her conviction Shepherd was in and out
\nof prison for failing to comply to her probation ordering her to complete a drug
\nprogramme. During this time she drew the attention of the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n

In 2007 I.C.E began removal proceedings
\nagainst her. She spent the majority of the following year in I.C.E detention and
\nwas issued with a deportation order in February 2010.<\/p>\n

Shepherd\u2019s adopted siblings, friends and
\nlawyers, who are working pro bono, are currently fighting to overturn her
\ndeportation order and gain her legal status.<\/p>\n

Conflict: Indian authorities have requested that the U.S.
\ntreat the case with \u00bfutmost sensitivity and compassion\u00bf but on Saturday I.C.E
\nofficials said deporting Shepherd would be consistent with their priorities and
\nrules<\/p>\n

‚I think she took a geography class in high
\nschool where she learned about India,‘ her attorney Alan L.Smith said. ‚She
\ndoesn’t speak the language, she has no connection whatsoever. She’s American
\nthrough and through.‘<\/p>\n

In the fight to keep Shepherd in the U.S. her
\ndefence may appeal to the U.S Supreme court, ask the Indian government to deny
\ntravel documents, or ask a state court judge to allow Shepherd to retract her
\nguilty plea, explained Smith.<\/p>\n

Shepherd assumed she was a U.S citizen when
\nshe pleaded guilty to a felony in 2004, said Smith.
\nOn Saturday, the I.C.E said that deporting
\nShepherd would be consistent with priorities and rules.<\/p>\n

However, Indian authorities have requested
\nthat the U.S. treat the case with \u2018utmost sensitivity and compassion.\u2019<\/p>\n

‚All the information available to us on this
\ncase indicates that it has a clearly humanitarian dimension that cannot be
\nignored. As reports indicate, Kairi Shepherd was brought to the United States
\nafter adoption, as a baby, and has known no other home,‘ the Indian Embassy said
\nin a statement.<\/p>\n

Shepherd was adopted by Erlene Shepherd in
\n1983. Smith said that the woman, a widow from Utah, adopted three children from
\nthe U.S, three from Thailand and two from India.
\nShe filed all the appropriate paperwork for
\nher other children before she died of breast cancer in 1992, according to one of
\nthe siblings.<\/p>\n

Shepherd\u2019s attorney succinctly summarised his
\nclient’s plight saying, \u2018She fell between the cracks.\u2019
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk By Daily Mail Reporter PUBLISHED: 14:45 GMT, 29 May 29 May 2012 Deportation battle: Attorneys are fighting to stop Kairi Shepherd, who was adopted from India as a 3-month-old baby, being deported A 30-year-old woman who has lived in the U.S since she was adopted from an orphanage in India as a baby… Weiter »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2995"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2995"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2997,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2995\/revisions\/2997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}