Countries: India, United States
Adoption Agencies: International Mission of Hope (IMH) and Americans for International Aid and Adoption (AIAA)

Kairi was adopted, at three months old, by an American woman. This adoptive mother died when Kairi was 8 years old.

Kairi was unaware that her adoptive mother had not finalised the procedures to get her US citizenship.

Kairi is now at risk of being deported back to India.

ACT is working tirelessly to prevent this deportation from happening.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Chidanand Rajghatta Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN | Jun 14, 2012,

WASHINGTON: Any questions whether New Delhi would serve as a US stooge and become a patsy following the American strategic embrace disappeared in vapor trails as India’s foreign minister flew out of Washington DC on Thursday after what officials from both sides agreed was a successful engagement. The route he took itself was illustrative of the complexity international relations. To go south to Havana, S M Krishna had to first fly north to Toronto, Canada, because the United States forbids direct flights to its bete noir Cuba.

Heading out to Cuba on an official trip soon after a visit to the US is just one example of New Delhi refusing to be a pushover, an illustration of it remaining true to its independent foreign policy DNA. A few weeks from now, India will again irk Washington pundits by consorting with the usual suspects from the Non-Aligned Movement in what US regards as enemy territory: Teheran.

Not that the US is unused to such in-your-face moves. In fact, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who once described ties between US and India as “an affair of the heart,” acknowledged herself at a presser that there are bound to be differences. “Well, with respect to affairs of the heart, they usually have ups and downs,” she chuckled amid knowing laughter, with Krishna by her side. “But that does not make them any less heartfelt – (laughter) – or any less of a commitment.”

Indeed, the differences between the two sides were many and they were expressed quite candidly by both sides during the strategic dialogue. For all the talk of strategic convergence, India did not refrain from raising several contentious issues, from demanding access to terror suspects David Headley and Tawahur Rana, to pressuring Washington to examine humanely the issue of Kairi Abha Shepherd, an India-born orphan whom the U.S is seeking to deport after 30 years following a cock-up over her citizenship. (more…)

Consider Kairi’s case on humanitarian grounds: Krishna asks US

Updated: June 14, 2012 15:29 IST

The letter to the US President, members of Congress, the Secretary of State and selected directors has been finalized and is being hand delivered today.

ACT teamed up with this community effort and is greatful to all who put their energy into getting this done.

However, ACT fully subscribes to David Smolin’s endorsement statement:

DAVID SMOLIN ENDORSEMENT STATEMENT

I entirely and strongly support this effort to “naturalize all adoptees,” bring the ones who havebeen deported back to the United States, and to “rescind the deportation order” regarding KairiShepherd and keep her and all adoptees facing deportation in the United States. Whatevercrimes these adoptees may have committed should be dealt with through the normal criminalprocesses, and they should be treated like other Americans, as this is the obligation which theUnited States has as the receiving nation of the children who were brought here for intercountryadoption.I disagree with the rhetoric of this letter insofar as it may imply that current U.S. policy towardintercountry adoption is correct. I also disagree with the implication that laws and regulationspertaining to intercountry adoption are needless barriers or that intercountry adoption is the bestsolution for the plight of orphans. I recognize that in this rhetoric the authors themselves maymerely intend to point out the inconsistency between deporting adoptees as non-citizens andother aspects of United States policy, which is a fair and relevant point.Respecfully,David Smolin. Dr. Smolin is the Harwell G. Davis Professor of Constitutional Law, and Director,Center for Biotechnology, Law, and Ethics, at Cumberland Law School, Samford University.

 

The full letter can be accessed HERE

29 May 2012

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 is facing deportation
after a court ruled she is living in the country illegally.

Kairi Shepherd, who has been orphaned twice
following the death of her biological Indian mother when she was just
3-months-old and her adoptive American mother, has described the deportation
order as a ‘death sentence.’ (more…)

28 May 2012

Source: Times Now

Almost 2 weeks after TIMES NOW’s report on Kairi Shepherd who has been denied US citizenship despite being adopted 30 years ago, External Affairs Minister reacts and says that he will take up the matter with the US government. SM Krishna says that Kairi’s situation is “unfortunate”.