South Korean Adoptee Deportation: American Parents Abused Adopted Son, Now He Faces Deportation As Adult

A South Korean adoptee faces deportation after living with abusive parents and living in foster homes throughout his childhood life. The boy is no longer a child, however. Adam Crasper is 39, but has lived a rough life after enduring a terrible childhood in the United States.

When Crasper was 3-years-old, he and his sister flew to the U.S. to their adoptive parents in Oregon, but they abandoned them, according to U.S. News & World Report. Casper depended on his sister, but they were separated when they went to different foster homes. When his sister was adopted, she got her citizenship. Crasper got the short end of the stick in his case. He was eventually adopted, but his parents were abusive and never got him a green card like they were supposed to. Now it’s possible the South Korean adoptee will face deportation after battling homelessness, crime, and unemployment due to not having a green card.

Crasper is married and a father to three children. If he’s forced to leave the U.S., he leaves behind his family.

Lori Wallis, Adam Crasper’s attorney, says there’s no reason why he should leave America when the state abandoned him.

“The state abandoned him when he was a child. Now the U.S. is throwing him out.”

When Crasper applied for his green card two years ago, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement learned of his trouble with the law; he’d been convicted of charges stemming from burglary to assault. Those crimes make him “deportable” under immigration law, the report states. It wasn’t until after the agency pursued deportation that they learned of his adoption history as a child, agency spokesman, Andrew Munoz said.

Crasper was heinously abused by his adoptive American parents — who were arrested on charges of physical child abuse, sexual abuse, and rape in 1991.

The foster parents had other foster children — in addition to a biological son — they violently abused daily for years. When Crasper was made fun of at school for the evident abuse he was the victim of, he dropped out of school in ninth grade. Since then he’s been homeless and been arrested for theft and assaulting a roommate.

After Crasper owned up to what he did and paid for his crimes, he opened up an upholstery business and barber shop. Those were two businesses that didn’t require a green card.

Wanting an end to the turmoil he’s encountered since being in the U.S. without immigration papers, the South Korean adoptee is fighting deportation.

CBS News reports that two U.S. senators — one including Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon — are “proposing a stand-alone, automatic citizenship bill for adoptees like Crapser.”

Merkley states his objective clearly.

“It was not his responsibility to fill out that immigration paperwork. He knows no other country.”

The advocacy group 18MillionRising launched a petition for Crasper called #KeepAdamHome petition. It has more than 12,000 signatures.

Adam wrote in his court declaration:

“America promised me a home. I implore this country to keep its promise. If not for me then for my children, so they won’t have to grow up without a dad.”

[Photo Credit: AP via U.S. News & World Report]