Since 2000, when a child is adopted by a U.S. citizen, the child automatically becomes a citizen too. But the Child Citizenship Act did not retroactively apply to adoptees who were 18 or older—and now a 41-year-old who was adopted from South Korea at age three is facing deportation.

Adam Crapser’s parents failed to complete his U.S. citizenship papers when they adopted him as a toddler. Seven years later, they placed Adam and his sibling in foster care until he was adopted by a second family. After suffering abuse at the hands of his new family, Crapser had a few run-ins with the law for minor criminal offenses.

When Crapser applied for a Green Card, these convictions flagged him as deportable in the government’s eyes. In October 2016 a judge ruled that he did not deserve deportation relief by cancellation or removal. The father of four had spent the previous nine months separated from his family in an immigration detention facility, and is now slated for deportation.

The Adoptee Citizenship Act (S.2275, H.R.5454) would provide automatic citizenship for all international adoptees, closing the loophole that excluded Crapser and other adoptees who were already 18 when the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 went into effect—an estimated 35,000 individuals. It would also provide a new path to citizenship for adoptees previously deported for minor crimes. Contact your elected officials to support this bill and help make good on the promise made by U.S. adoptive parents and agencies that international adoptees are part of a legal family with no strings or loopholes attached.