"I thought I'll go to the embassy and I'll clear this up. Yeah, that I was adopted legally and I was US citizen." -- Mike Davis
READ THE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://app.swellai.com/t/tp_01JB3BV6BMN0QQD1M7BWPZEVPK
EPISODE SUMMARY:
In this episode of Unraveling Adoption, I had the privilege of speaking with Mike Davis, an intercountry adoptee whose story sheds light on the often-overlooked complexities of adoption, particularly regarding citizenship issues. Mike was adopted from Ethiopia at the age of eight by an African-American single father and grew up in the U.S. However, in the mid-1990s, he discovered that he was not a U.S. citizen, despite his father's efforts to complete the necessary adoption paperwork.
In 2005, Mike was deported to Ethiopia, a country he barely remembered, where he faced immense challenges, including language barriers and a lack of support. He shared the harrowing details of his deportation, including being dropped off at the airport with only the clothes on his back and a small amount of money. Mike's story is a stark reminder of the potential pitfalls in the inter-country adoption process and the devastating impact it can have on families.
Throughout our conversation, Mike emphasized the ongoing struggles he faces, including the inability to access benefits he contributed to while working in the U.S. and the emotional toll on his family, including his wife and children, who have also suffered due to his deportation.
We were also joined by Maureen McCauley, an adoptive parent and advocate for Mike, who has been instrumental in raising awareness about his situation and has created a GoFundMe to assist with his legal and medical expenses. Together, we discussed the broader implications of Mike's story, including the urgent need for legislative change to protect the rights of all adoptees, particularly those who are at risk of deportation.
This episode serves as a call to action for listeners to educate themselves about the complexities of adoption and to advocate for the rights of adoptees. We encourage all Americans to support the Adoptee Citizenship Act and to reach out to their Congressional representatives to help ensure that no adoptee has to endure the hardships that Mike has faced. Thank you for joining us in this important conversation.
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RESOURCES:
- Donate to Mike’s GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-mike-davis-abebe-hailu-come-home-to-the-us
- Read the book that Maureen edited and that includes Mike's essay, Lions Roaring Far From Home: An Anthology by Ethiopian Adoptees: https:/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Welcome to this episode of Unraveling Adoption, an intentional space to
delve into adoption's complexities together. I'm Beth Syverson.
I'm an adoptive mom of a resilient and wise 20-year-old son,
Joey. I'm walking beside him while working on my own personal growth and
healing. Joey and I are committed to helping anyone impacted by
adoption, and we want to help the general public understand adoption's complexities
(00:23):
better too. I'm also a certified coach, helping seekers who
want to move their lives forward. Well, when we talk about
adoptions complexities, this episode today is about
as complex as it gets. This is the part of adoption
no one talks about and no one wants to think about, but this is the
kind of the shadow part of adoption.
(00:44):
And it is a real life story that has affected a
real life person, a real life family, and many other families
like this. So today's episode is especially pertinent
for people who are impacted by inter-country adoption like my
family. And I wonder, listeners, if you realize that in some
cases the paperwork for inter-country adoptees goes awry and
(01:04):
the adopted person who grew up in the U.S. was never a
citizen. Well, today we're going to talk to an inter-country adoptee
about his experience being deported as an adult to
a country he left as a child, Ethiopia. This
episode will open your eyes to the extreme complexities that can
be present when we adopt from other countries and when systems
(01:25):
that run the adoption machine aren't considering the impact
on the adopted person. So hang on to your hats for this story, everyone,
and listen for ways we can all help people who are deported
or who are at risk of deportation like our guest. Joining
me today is Mike Davis. He was adopted as an eight-year-old from Ethiopia in
1976 by an African-American single father. who was a U.S.
(01:48):
Army officer. He was raised in the U.S., ran
several small businesses, got married, and had kids. Then,
in the mid-1990s, he found out he was not, in fact, a
U.S. citizen, even though his father had done the necessary adoption
paperwork for both the U.S. and the Ethiopian governments. He
was deported to Ethiopia in 2005, where he knew no one, didn't
(02:11):
speak the language, and had to rely on his own wits to survive. He
is now 61 years old, and he has been in Ethiopia for
over 20 years. He continues to challenge his case so
he can return home to his family and friends in the U.S. In addition to
being unable to live in the U.S., he is unable to draw on the Medicare
or Social Security benefits he contributed to while working
(02:32):
in America for decades. Later in the program, we
will also bring in Maureen McCauley, an adoptive parent
friend of mine who has championed Mike's cause and created a
GoFundMe to help with his legal and medical expenses. The
GoFundMe link will be in the show notes if you feel led to help out.
Oh, thank you for being here on Unraveling Adoption, Mike. I'm glad
(02:55):
We're going to unravel this thing, like unravel this super
big knot of complexities. Oh, my goodness. When
I heard your story, for the first time, I was like, what, this
can happen? Oh, my goodness. And I bet
a lot of people are in that place right now. And I wanted
people to hear the scariest
(03:18):
part for me, when you told me your story was the day
that you flew to Ethiopia and they just sort of
dumped you there, not knowing anyone and not knowing the language, not
having any money, no nothing, just the clothes on your back. And I wondered if you could
start there and then we'll kind of work our way backwards and
explain your story. Can you explain that day? I bet
(03:40):
I'm going to guess. Oh, yes. Very much so. Well,
we flew to the airport. Once we got to the airport, I
was advised just to go straight on out at the door. I
have a luggage but it didn't belong to me. It belonged to someone else. Okay.
Whose size is very big and I'm such a small, he's
(04:07):
Only clothes on your back. And you're coming from INS [United Immigration and Naturalization Service] detention, right?
Yeah, INS detention. Okay. They drove me from Louisiana to Atlanta and
Okay, so they just basically sent you with the clothes on your back, did you
Okay, and they said just walk out the airport door and have
(04:28):
Yeah, no thank you. Good luck. Good luck. But I had an
account in my inmate book. Okay. About $285. Okay.
But they gave me the check and I couldn't cash the check. Yeah, I promised you I was
Okay, so they gave you a paper check, which obviously would not work in
Ethiopia, and they never cashed it for you. This was like from your account in the
INS detention center, right? Like vending machine money
(04:51):
or whatever. Okay, so you couldn't even use
Well, what I did was I talked to
the officer to let me borrow at least, you know, give me some money, I'll pay him back. Okay,
He gave you 20 bucks. Okay, 20 US
(05:12):
Okay. And what do you do in a brand new country after flying for
Oh my lordy. 17 hours in an airplane, knowing that
you're going to be just dropped off. Where's the first place you
I went to the lounge, sat there for a while because this was early
in the morning. Okay. I did my little prayer and
(05:34):
trying to figure out what I'm going to do. Everything was closed. We
arrived early in the morning. Wow. The sun come up when
it started to daytime. I talked to some guys where
I could find a taxi and I talked to a taxi driver and I
told him to take me to the American embassy. Okay. It
(05:54):
Okay. Once I got to the airport, the guy, I
told him I don't have no money. The only thing I had was $20 U.S. dollar bill. And
I don't know how much the exchange rate was, but he said
he would take me. And I told him about my situation. I was just dropped off
here. And if he could take me to the American embassy, later on I
could pay him back. He was kind enough to take me to the embassy, which
(06:15):
is a little far away. Once I get to the embassy,
I talked to the guards. They told me that, you know, they were
closed. And I told them I was U.S. citizen. And I showed them some of
my adoption paperwork and stuff. Okay. So they called the officer on a duty. I
talked to him on the phone. I told him my situation. He said he can't do nothing
(06:41):
Okay. There's nothing you can do on the weekend. Okay. Okay, so
I still got the same taxi guy. He took me to the hotel, so
I'll be able to call home. Where they have a phone, so I could make a phone call. Okay.
Got a hotel, and I stayed in the hotel until Monday morning.
(07:01):
No, the taxi driver paid for it, but I promised him that I would pay
It's a place to stay, and then I will be able to use the phone, so I can make a
(07:25):
Yeah. Oh, man! On that weekend did you have any idea that
you would still be there 20 plus years after? No. Or did
I thought I'll go to the embassy and I'll clear this up. Yeah. That I was adopted
legally and I was US citizen. Uh-huh. I thought
it would be cleared right away. Yeah, but no, it didn't. It
(07:47):
So what happened? You know, I'm an adoptive parent and I adopted a child internationally.
And I tell you, your story makes me a little nervous. I'm like, I went and looked
up his paperwork. I'm like, does my son have citizenship?
I mean, this is a serious issue. And I hope any intercountry adoptive
parent right now is listening. Better go check this out.
What did you find out was the problem? Did someone do something
(08:12):
It's a good question. First of all, me and my father,
we never talked about adoption. He never showed me the paperwork of
what he went through to get me adopted. We never talked about
And I find out when I was detained, I was detained for about two
years. When I was detained, I filed a habeas corpus to
(08:33):
the district court where I was detained at. And
when the government respond to my habeas corpus, they
send some documents. Whenever they file the documents to the attorneys,
to the court, they have to file it to me too. That's when I find out
OK, so you've got your adoption papers through that, through asking
the courts for your paper. OK, so your dad, did he not have the
(09:00):
OK. You knew you were adopted, though, because you were eight. Yeah. It was not
I have my adoption decree. I found out I was adopted with
approved I-600. I-600 is Petition for
Orphan. OK. The first one was denied and
Oh, okay. Did that have something to do with why your citizenship didn't
(09:22):
No, that's not it. What happened was when my dad adopted me
from my dad, while my adoption was being processed, my grandmother,
his mother, was sick and she
had to leave Ethiopia in an emergency and he wanted me to accommodate with them.
He wanted me to meet my new grandmother before she passed away. Okay. So
he got a visa, MP1 visa. It's a temporary visa. Okay.
(09:43):
So I'll be introduced to my new grandmother. We stayed in
the states for about, I'd say, two weeks or maybe a month.
We went back to Ethiopia. Okay. During this time, my immigration process was
on appeal. It was being processed. Okay. That's my first visa. On
my second visa, my I-600 was approved. I
was adopted as their orphan. and I was issued
(10:05):
IR-3 visa, my last visa. That's what happened. They're
Oh, you're kidding. Yes. But it seems like you
could just say, well, I have this other visa, so let me go
We've been trying to get the State Department to release
(10:28):
God, it's so maddening. I can imagine how angry you
must be. I'm like, and I just met you. I
can't imagine living with this injustice day in and day
Yeah. So you continue fighting the legal case? Yes. And
(10:50):
And has she come to join you or does she visit or?
When I first got removed here, I have two kids by her. When
Yeah, very little kids. Yeah. My wife and my kids, they struggling.
This should never happen to nobody, no adoptees. Absolutely. But
(11:11):
so what she did was I had a place of business, we bought a house and
we live in the American dream. Sure. I was building my family. When I
was deported, like I told you, they was five and 12 years old. My
wife sold the house and my pizza shop was closed. She
sold the car and everything and she brought the kids here with me. Okay. They're supposed to
Yeah, but thing was very difficult for her. unfamiliar culture,
(11:42):
Yeah, so she can't just like blend in with the Ethiopian
culture. Yeah. Yeah, oh man. So
they tried living in Ethiopia and they're like, no,
And there's no way you can't even come visit the U.S. They won't let you come, right?
(12:06):
Wow. I just can't imagine being there for 20 years, day
I did all I could. We filed extreme hardship from
our family and everything. And nothing goes through, nothing goes
What is the story that you tell yourself about why this
I always ask myself that, but some things happens. There's
(12:33):
No, just uneducated immigration personnel, especially
during the time that I was deported. Many people don't know
Yeah. Yeah. So you're trying to fight the law. So let's
go backwards a little bit to when you kind of got in trouble and
got sent to I.N.S. detention. What prompted
someone to go, hey, you're not a citizen? What
(12:58):
What happened was in 1991 and 1993, I'm in my 20s during
this time, I got hooked up with some friends and
I got a posession of a joint, marijuana is a joint, and
I just want to make sure I'm understanding, it's a marijuana charge, is that what you
(13:18):
You had a joint? Yeah. Rolled in a hundred dollar bill? This
A joint and I have a cocaine and a dollar
And cocaine. Oh, OK. OK, so marijuana, cocaine in
I was at a friend's house. They busted the door. And then
they also found a gun, which is an antique gun. Don't
even shoot. OK. I like to collect all guns.
(13:42):
OK. And I had an old German pistol. OK. For all
these charges, I was sentenced to three years probation and 120 days boot
Wow. OK. So that's a whole nother injustice about the drug war.
So I'm just going to try not to even go there. That's
a whole other podcast. So you kind of have this scrape
with the law. And then is that when someone said, hey,
(14:07):
Yes, what happened was my probation officer was a friend of mine, well
not really a friend of mine, but we used to go to school together. She played in
a football team and she knew me very well. She knew I was adopted. Okay.
Yeah, I don't think she knew it was causing me this much harm. She
instructed me to go to the I.N.S. office in Atlanta. This
(14:29):
was 1993, which I did. When I went
to the INS office in Atlanta, they look at my A
number, they could not find it for nothing. And they just told me, send me
No, I wasn't worried about it. Because since I was adopted, I
thought I was automatically an American citizen. I just have to show my adoption
(14:49):
paperwork. I went to my dad. I told him immigration looking for me.
They want me this. And he gave me my adoption paperwork. So
I showed the immigration judge my adoption paperwork and I told him I was
adopted and everything. He heavily advised me to get an attorney. This was
1996. And I went to get an attorney. It was very expensive. And
(15:11):
the law wasn't that well known as it is now. So I went back
to the court again to the immigration judge. I
could not afford an immigration lawyer. Very expensive. And
he again, he heavily advised me to get an attorney. All right. I
found an attorney, which was not an immigration lawyer. And he
said he could handle it and charge me about $3,000, something like that. okay
(15:32):
I paid him and he appeared to court with me. He notified the
attorney told the judge that I was U.S. citizen by adoption and
the judge just said prove me a citizenship. Give me a passport. okay
So my cool attorney he went to talk to some people in immigration offices
and stuff like that he come to me said go apply for U.S. passport at the
post office. Okay. I did and they denied me, post
(15:54):
office denied me. After that I called my attorney what
can I do he'll never respond that was the end of it. Ah! He
just took your money He got some bad advice from some
Yeah, it is a very specific part of law, I'm sure. But then
they charge, oh gosh, oh man, I
(16:14):
am so sorry this happened to you, Mike. I am just, oh, it makes me
so mad. I just feel like you had nothing to do with
any of this. You were victimized by a couple of bad
systems, our justice system and the adoption system and
the criminal justice system. And I just feel so
upset. But I see that you, I guess
(16:35):
you've had a while to think about this. But, you know, you're working hard on your case,
but you seem to have a sense of inner peace. And I want to know how
There was plenty of times, believe me, that I want to give up. I'm sure.
(16:58):
I'm sure. And you've created a life for yourself in Ethiopia. I think you
said you built another pizza business and things like that.
Yeah, I'm an entrepreneur. So I always. OK. Yeah. First,
I worked with a guy trying to open up a dustpan throughout the city.
It was called Keep Ethiopia Beautiful. They were having
problems with dustbins on the street. People were throwing papers and
(17:21):
stuff like that on the street. So I got together with this guy. We
Wow. To keep the streets clean. Yeah. Nice. Wow.
I didn't have no money, but it was my ideas and my friend and
we worked with the government. So they allowed us to do that. Yeah. Okay.
Wow. Second one, I opened up a vegetable stand, selling vegetables
(17:43):
like tomatoes, onions, avocados, all
Yeah. Shoot. Oh my gosh. And
(18:03):
Oh gout! That's hard. That's painful. And you're probably working on
Well, I wonder how you met Maureen, who is here with us
today, too. And if you'd like to introduce Maureen and what
(18:24):
Oh, how long have you known each other? Five years, maybe four or five years,
I'd say. And how did you meet Maureen? We met because
my kid told his story. We are fairly close in age. I'm
actually a little older than Mike is, but we met because
his story might have been on adoptees for justice or
something like that. And I am the adoptive parent
(18:45):
of four now young adults, including twin
daughters from Ethiopia. So I have been
involved with the Ethiopian adoption community for quite a while. We were
in the process of putting together an anthology called
Lions Roaring Far From Home, an anthology by Ethiopian
adoptees. And it was coincidence more than anything,
(19:07):
but we were able to include Mike's essay in
the book and his story. So that was kind of how that happened
together. I had also been involved and aware
of the complexity around citizenship and the fact that it was the
94 immigration law that mandated
anybody who was not a U.S. citizen who committed a crime
(19:29):
could be deported. And that the range of crime could
depend on, it could be very minor, could be very major, and
adoptees have been deported as a result of that. In
2003, the Child Citizenship Act became
law, and that made all incoming adoptees
under the age of 18 automatic U.S. citizens. They still
(19:51):
have to go through the paperwork, depending on the visa, but they are
U.S. citizens upon arrival in the United States. It
did not cover, though, the tens of thousands of adoptees who
are over 18. And I think, and you
kind of had talked about this a bit, Beth, I think an awful lot of people, and
probably this includes Mike's dad, believed that international
(20:12):
adoptees were U.S. citizens upon arrival in the
United States. Why wouldn't they be? Why would you have to go through a whole naturalization
process when you had arrived through the laws of
the country of origin and the United States? Everybody had signed off. So
it's been very heartbreaking to see what has happened to
Mike, absolutely, and to many other adoptees. And
(20:34):
of course, there are older adoptees who may not even know that they are not citizens.
Then they find out they also, if they're still here in the United States, they
don't qualify for social security benefits, they don't qualify for
Medicare. And it's also very heartbreaking. They may
not have had any trouble with the law, but not being citizens puts
(20:55):
So they are at risk for being deported and also just don't get any
And it's also very, I think, just personally heartbreaking, the idea that they're
not U.S. citizens. They very much consider themselves Americans.
This is their country. This is their home, their family. And
they may have connections to their country of origin. No question about that.
(21:17):
But they feel that they are part of
America, that they were adopted here, welcomed here.
Yet they have this liability. They could have voted in an
Wow, so many ramifications. I
know my son doesn't feel like he's fully Japanese or
(21:38):
fully American, kind of in between land. And
then to be told, yeah, you're not a citizen after all,
what that must do to an adoptee's psyche and soul. Because
you're already feeling kind of like an outsider. And then they say,
well, you are an outsider, actually. And I'm sending you back.
It's like, what? It's just so damaging on
(22:00):
so many levels. It's just unbelievable. So
you heard about my story, you connect with him. And then are you
I am. We established the GoFundMe, and I really appreciate you
talking about that, to help Mike with his legal costs for
sure, and also his medical costs. I think it's really important to
think of the fact that he's 61 years old. He has gout.
(22:22):
He has other medical conditions, he doesn't complain, but
medical issues for somebody who's lived on their
own in a country that they're not really familiar with, and granted 20 years
I get, but still it's an awful lot for
somebody to deal with. And he has family in the United States,
his wife, his sons, he has grandchildren that
(22:45):
he has never met. And for our U.S. government to
believe that that's okay, I find a tragedy. I really
do. If we're bringing children into the United States as international adoptees,
our Congress is very much in favor of adoption, and yet
we are willing to say we will deport
international adoptees. It's just wrong. They are
(23:10):
Absolutely. Are they working on some sort of new
Sure. There's there's been legislation for at
least close to the last 10 years, I would say. And I think a
lot of us who have been involved with this work really felt, well,
this will be just cleared up like that. And in fact, no,
it has not. It has been introduced in Congress in both the House
(23:33):
and the Senate multiple times. The Adoptee Citizenship Act
or a variation there. And they oftentimes can't get
enough co-sponsors, can't get it onto the floor of the House
and the Senate, can't get it to conference. It's just astonishingly frustrating
because I think if people understood the lives that are in
jeopardy, the promises essentially that were made. to
(23:54):
adoptees when they were children, when they had no agency over
what happened. And whether it was the parents failed
to do the paperwork or our U.S. government didn't do
the paperwork the right way, it should not matter. They
came in as adopted children, family members.
That notion of forever family in our government really
(24:15):
needs to act on that. There are a lot of adoptees for justice and
other organizations are working very hard on that. And it's very tough.
And I hope that everybody will contact their congressional representative
in the House and the Senate if they've co-sponsored the bill for adoptees.
OK, I will link that organization Adoptees for Justice in
the show notes. That's such good information. And so, oh,
(24:37):
man, it's an area that I have not really spent time
thinking about. I vaguely heard about this happening, but to actually
hear his voice and to to hear his story and
just to imagine and to imagine his kids and grandkids for
crying out loud that lost their dad when they were just
little kids. And for what? And
(24:58):
I can hear some people saying, well, he broke the law, but
he served his time. It was a dumb law anyway, but
he served his time. and he did what he needed to do to
And he's had no legal trouble whatsoever since the
incident in 1993. None in the U.S. or in
(25:27):
No, I think you hit the main parts. He was very close with his dad.
There's no question. As I recall, his dad died during the time that he
was in Ethiopia and he was not allowed to go back for his father's funeral.
And again, his father was a U.S. Army officer. Yeah. I'm sure
a person who complied with all U.S. regulations, so
forth, to the very best of his ability. And he
(25:48):
had to deal with the tragedy of seeing his adopted son
Oh, geez. God, just the amount of pain. I know. That's
terrible. He's calling. Hey, Mike. We
lost connection. Oh, we lost connection. No problem. We're
almost done anyway. And I've been recording Maureen. She's been doing some
(26:11):
more explaining things. So can you finish it just on the
OK. What I really want to talk about with most was
the hardship my kids have to go through and my wife has to
Because I got this good life and, you
(26:31):
Yes, absolutely. How are your kids? Do you
They're grown up now, but when they were growing up, they were homeless. After
they came back to America, after they visited me, they
They went through extreme hardship, you know. I want people to know this.
Yes, it is not, it doesn't just end with you. Oh,
(27:00):
You know, my wife is suffering, My kids are grown up.
I wanted them to go to college. I wanted to plan for them, but
Because of one piece of paperwork. Yes, yes. Or
one lazy immigration workers. Yes. They didn't
(27:21):
There's a law that protects me from being deported.
Yes, yes. But they never looked at that. Their agenda
When you deport us, when you deport adoptees, It also is
hurting their children, wife, everything. They
Absolutely. Absolutely. And now they have kids, right? You have
(27:46):
I'm not meeting them yet. I thought you have never met. Wow.
Well, I'm sending all my love to you and
(28:08):
your whole family, and I'm sure everyone that is listening is. Your case
seems so cut and dried and so obvious, completely injustice.
But is there any way we can help you? Besides, we're all going
to donate to your GoFundMe. We'll put the link in the show notes. Aside
from that, is there any other way that we can help you or
other adoptees who might be at risk of deportation? What can we do as
(28:30):
an adoption community and allies? What can we do to help you?
(29:07):
Okay. So
Okay. Yes.
It seems like that should have always been the case, but obviously it's not. So
they're trying to rectify that. So if people contacted their Congress person, do
(29:41):
Okay, Adoptings for Justice. I'll link that. Maureen was telling me about that. I
will link that, and so people could talk to their congressperson, making sure
Yeah, if you ask Maureen, she knows more about the adoption bill that's
Do you want to mention anything about that, Maureen? Just to say, yeah, Adoptee
Citizenship Act and Adoptees for Justice is
(30:02):
an excellent source. Adoptees United also is
a website run by an adoptee. It
was a lawyer, Greg Luce. Greg's site, Adoptees United.
They also maintain information about the legislation.
And the big thing is just what both of you are saying is for folks to contact their
congressional office and ask if they are a co-sponsor of
(30:25):
OK, awesome. All right. We'll put all of that in the show notes. This
is the time for everybody to do something. Don't just go into
the sad story. Go do something so no one
else has to suffer the way Mike has had to suffer. And he is not alone.
As far as I understand, there are several people that
we know about that have been deported and there are
(30:46):
countless people that are at risk of being deported, right? Am
Absolutely. We know of at least one adoptee who died by suicide
in Korea. We know another who was killed in Brazil.
So to say that adoptees have suffered and they have been
deported to almost every country. So it's a huge
issue for an awful lot of people, especially for those who don't know they are
(31:09):
Yes, yes, yes. OK, everybody, get on board with
this and let's get some help out there. Let's get these laws changed. And
the Supreme Court and the pro adoption people out there
need to come through. They're so
pro adoption. They need to support the adoptees after
OK. And including adoptive parents, whether they're kids or citizens
(31:31):
or not. I would love to see an awful lot more adoptive parents demanding citizenship
Absolutely, adoptive parents, especially transracially adoptive parents, let's
kind of get on this bandwagon and help out. We're part of this
whole system and we can be a squeaky wheel. Let's use our access
and privilege that we have to really make some
noise about this issue. Very good. Mike, I will give
(31:54):
you the last word. What would you like to say to our
Support the bill. Support the bill. No adult should never
be deported. Absolutely, absolutely. We should not suffer like
this. We build a family, we lose biological parents,
God doesn't, then we build our life, then they
have to suffer. This is devil's jeopardy. It's
(32:17):
Absolutely, it's not right. All right. Well, thank you very much for
Thank you for sharing your story. It's very important for us to hear, and we'll try
to get the word out for you. All right. Well, everyone,
like I said, go check out the GoFundMe and the links to the legal
organizations. And while you're at it, go look
(32:38):
at Unraveling Adoption. There's lots of events and resources there for everybody to
get involved as much as you can, as much as you're able. Thank
you all for listening. And Mike, Maureen, and I want you
Welcome to this episode of Unraveling Adoption, an intentional space to
delve into adoption's complexities together. I'm Beth Syverson.
I'm an adoptive mom of a resilient and wise 20-year-old son,
Joey. I'm walking beside him while working on my own personal growth and
healing. Joey and I are committed to helping anyone impacted by
adoption, and we want to help the general public understand adoption's complexities
(00:23):
better too. I'm also a certified coach, helping seekers who
want to move their lives forward. Well, when we talk about
adoptions complexities, this episode today is about
as complex as it gets. This is the part of adoption
no one talks about and no one wants to think about, but this is the
kind of the shadow part of adoption.
(00:44):
And it is a real life story that has affected a
real life person, a real life family, and many other families
like this. So today's episode is especially pertinent
for people who are impacted by inter-country adoption like my
family. And I wonder, listeners, if you realize that in some
cases the paperwork for inter-country adoptees goes awry and
(01:04):
the adopted person who grew up in the U.S. was never a
citizen. Well, today we're going to talk to an inter-country adoptee
about his experience being deported as an adult to
a country he left as a child, Ethiopia. This
episode will open your eyes to the extreme complexities that can
be present when we adopt from other countries and when systems
(01:25):
that run the adoption machine aren't considering the impact
on the adopted person. So hang on to your hats for this story, everyone,
and listen for ways we can all help people who are deported
or who are at risk of deportation like our guest. Joining
me today is Mike Davis. He was adopted as an eight-year-old from Ethiopia in
1976 by an African-American single father. who was a U.S.
(01:48):
Army officer. He was raised in the U.S., ran
several small businesses, got married, and had kids. Then,
in the mid-1990s, he found out he was not, in fact, a
U.S. citizen, even though his father had done the necessary adoption
paperwork for both the U.S. and the Ethiopian governments. He
was deported to Ethiopia in 2005, where he knew no one, didn't
(02:11):
speak the language, and had to rely on his own wits to survive. He
is now 61 years old, and he has been in Ethiopia for
over 20 years. He continues to challenge his case so
he can return home to his family and friends in the U.S. In addition to
being unable to live in the U.S., he is unable to draw on the Medicare
or Social Security benefits he contributed to while working
(02:32):
in America for decades. Later in the program, we
will also bring in Maureen McCauley, an adoptive parent
friend of mine who has championed Mike's cause and created a
GoFundMe to help with his legal and medical expenses. The
GoFundMe link will be in the show notes if you feel led to help out.
Oh, thank you for being here on Unraveling Adoption, Mike. I'm glad
(02:55):
We're going to unravel this thing, like unravel this super
big knot of complexities. Oh, my goodness. When
I heard your story, for the first time, I was like, what, this
can happen? Oh, my goodness. And I bet
a lot of people are in that place right now. And I wanted
people to hear the scariest
(03:18):
part for me, when you told me your story was the day
that you flew to Ethiopia and they just sort of
dumped you there, not knowing anyone and not knowing the language, not
having any money, no nothing, just the clothes on your back. And I wondered if you could
start there and then we'll kind of work our way backwards and
explain your story. Can you explain that day? I bet
(03:40):
I'm going to guess. Oh, yes. Very much so. Well,
we flew to the airport. Once we got to the airport, I
was advised just to go straight on out at the door. I
have a luggage but it didn't belong to me. It belonged to someone else. Okay.
Whose size is very big and I'm such a small, he's
(04:07):
Only clothes on your back. And you're coming from INS [United Immigration and Naturalization Service] detention, right?
Yeah, INS detention. Okay. They drove me from Louisiana to Atlanta and
Okay, so they just basically sent you with the clothes on your back, did you
Okay, and they said just walk out the airport door and have
(04:28):
Yeah, no thank you. Good luck. Good luck. But I had an
account in my inmate book. Okay. About $285. Okay.
But they gave me the check and I couldn't cash the check. Yeah, I promised you I was
Okay, so they gave you a paper check, which obviously would not work in
Ethiopia, and they never cashed it for you. This was like from your account in the
INS detention center, right? Like vending machine money
(04:51):
or whatever. Okay, so you couldn't even use
Well, what I did was I talked to
the officer to let me borrow at least, you know, give me some money, I'll pay him back. Okay,
He gave you 20 bucks. Okay, 20 US
(05:12):
Okay. And what do you do in a brand new country after flying for
Oh my lordy. 17 hours in an airplane, knowing that
you're going to be just dropped off. Where's the first place you
I went to the lounge, sat there for a while because this was early
in the morning. Okay. I did my little prayer and
(05:34):
trying to figure out what I'm going to do. Everything was closed. We
arrived early in the morning. Wow. The sun come up when
it started to daytime. I talked to some guys where
I could find a taxi and I talked to a taxi driver and I
told him to take me to the American embassy. Okay. It
(05:54):
Okay. Once I got to the airport, the guy, I
told him I don't have no money. The only thing I had was $20 U.S. dollar bill. And
I don't know how much the exchange rate was, but he said
he would take me. And I told him about my situation. I was just dropped off
here. And if he could take me to the American embassy, later on I
could pay him back. He was kind enough to take me to the embassy, which
(06:15):
is a little far away. Once I get to the embassy,
I talked to the guards. They told me that, you know, they were
closed. And I told them I was U.S. citizen. And I showed them some of
my adoption paperwork and stuff. Okay. So they called the officer on a duty. I
talked to him on the phone. I told him my situation. He said he can't do nothing
(06:41):
Okay. There's nothing you can do on the weekend. Okay. Okay, so
I still got the same taxi guy. He took me to the hotel, so
I'll be able to call home. Where they have a phone, so I could make a phone call. Okay.
Got a hotel, and I stayed in the hotel until Monday morning.
(07:01):
No, the taxi driver paid for it, but I promised him that I would pay
It's a place to stay, and then I will be able to use the phone, so I can make a
(07:25):
Yeah. Oh, man! On that weekend did you have any idea that
you would still be there 20 plus years after? No. Or did
I thought I'll go to the embassy and I'll clear this up. Yeah. That I was adopted
legally and I was US citizen. Uh-huh. I thought
it would be cleared right away. Yeah, but no, it didn't. It
(07:47):
So what happened? You know, I'm an adoptive parent and I adopted a child internationally.
And I tell you, your story makes me a little nervous. I'm like, I went and looked
up his paperwork. I'm like, does my son have citizenship?
I mean, this is a serious issue. And I hope any intercountry adoptive
parent right now is listening. Better go check this out.
What did you find out was the problem? Did someone do something
(08:12):
It's a good question. First of all, me and my father,
we never talked about adoption. He never showed me the paperwork of
what he went through to get me adopted. We never talked about
And I find out when I was detained, I was detained for about two
years. When I was detained, I filed a habeas corpus to
(08:33):
the district court where I was detained at. And
when the government respond to my habeas corpus, they
send some documents. Whenever they file the documents to the attorneys,
to the court, they have to file it to me too. That's when I find out
OK, so you've got your adoption papers through that, through asking
the courts for your paper. OK, so your dad, did he not have the
(09:00):
OK. You knew you were adopted, though, because you were eight. Yeah. It was not
I have my adoption decree. I found out I was adopted with
approved I-600. I-600 is Petition for
Orphan. OK. The first one was denied and
Oh, okay. Did that have something to do with why your citizenship didn't
(09:22):
No, that's not it. What happened was when my dad adopted me
from my dad, while my adoption was being processed, my grandmother,
his mother, was sick and she
had to leave Ethiopia in an emergency and he wanted me to accommodate with them.
He wanted me to meet my new grandmother before she passed away. Okay. So
he got a visa, MP1 visa. It's a temporary visa. Okay.
(09:43):
So I'll be introduced to my new grandmother. We stayed in
the states for about, I'd say, two weeks or maybe a month.
We went back to Ethiopia. Okay. During this time, my immigration process was
on appeal. It was being processed. Okay. That's my first visa. On
my second visa, my I-600 was approved. I
was adopted as their orphan. and I was issued
(10:05):
IR-3 visa, my last visa. That's what happened. They're
Oh, you're kidding. Yes. But it seems like you
could just say, well, I have this other visa, so let me go
We've been trying to get the State Department to release
(10:28):
God, it's so maddening. I can imagine how angry you
must be. I'm like, and I just met you. I
can't imagine living with this injustice day in and day
Yeah. So you continue fighting the legal case? Yes. And
(10:50):
And has she come to join you or does she visit or?
When I first got removed here, I have two kids by her. When
Yeah, very little kids. Yeah. My wife and my kids, they struggling.
This should never happen to nobody, no adoptees. Absolutely. But
(11:11):
so what she did was I had a place of business, we bought a house and
we live in the American dream. Sure. I was building my family. When I
was deported, like I told you, they was five and 12 years old. My
wife sold the house and my pizza shop was closed. She
sold the car and everything and she brought the kids here with me. Okay. They're supposed to
Yeah, but thing was very difficult for her. unfamiliar culture,
(11:42):
Yeah, so she can't just like blend in with the Ethiopian
culture. Yeah. Yeah, oh man. So
they tried living in Ethiopia and they're like, no,
And there's no way you can't even come visit the U.S. They won't let you come, right?
(12:06):
Wow. I just can't imagine being there for 20 years, day
I did all I could. We filed extreme hardship from
our family and everything. And nothing goes through, nothing goes
What is the story that you tell yourself about why this
I always ask myself that, but some things happens. There's
(12:33):
No, just uneducated immigration personnel, especially
during the time that I was deported. Many people don't know
Yeah. Yeah. So you're trying to fight the law. So let's
go backwards a little bit to when you kind of got in trouble and
got sent to I.N.S. detention. What prompted
someone to go, hey, you're not a citizen? What
(12:58):
What happened was in 1991 and 1993, I'm in my 20s during
this time, I got hooked up with some friends and
I got a posession of a joint, marijuana is a joint, and
I just want to make sure I'm understanding, it's a marijuana charge, is that what you
(13:18):
You had a joint? Yeah. Rolled in a hundred dollar bill? This
A joint and I have a cocaine and a dollar
And cocaine. Oh, OK. OK, so marijuana, cocaine in
I was at a friend's house. They busted the door. And then
they also found a gun, which is an antique gun. Don't
even shoot. OK. I like to collect all guns.
(13:42):
OK. And I had an old German pistol. OK. For all
these charges, I was sentenced to three years probation and 120 days boot
Wow. OK. So that's a whole nother injustice about the drug war.
So I'm just going to try not to even go there. That's
a whole other podcast. So you kind of have this scrape
with the law. And then is that when someone said, hey,
(14:07):
Yes, what happened was my probation officer was a friend of mine, well
not really a friend of mine, but we used to go to school together. She played in
a football team and she knew me very well. She knew I was adopted. Okay.
Yeah, I don't think she knew it was causing me this much harm. She
instructed me to go to the I.N.S. office in Atlanta. This
(14:29):
was 1993, which I did. When I went
to the INS office in Atlanta, they look at my A
number, they could not find it for nothing. And they just told me, send me
No, I wasn't worried about it. Because since I was adopted, I
thought I was automatically an American citizen. I just have to show my adoption
(14:49):
paperwork. I went to my dad. I told him immigration looking for me.
They want me this. And he gave me my adoption paperwork. So
I showed the immigration judge my adoption paperwork and I told him I was
adopted and everything. He heavily advised me to get an attorney. This was
1996. And I went to get an attorney. It was very expensive. And
(15:11):
the law wasn't that well known as it is now. So I went back
to the court again to the immigration judge. I
could not afford an immigration lawyer. Very expensive. And
he again, he heavily advised me to get an attorney. All right. I
found an attorney, which was not an immigration lawyer. And he
said he could handle it and charge me about $3,000, something like that. okay
(15:32):
I paid him and he appeared to court with me. He notified the
attorney told the judge that I was U.S. citizen by adoption and
the judge just said prove me a citizenship. Give me a passport. okay
So my cool attorney he went to talk to some people in immigration offices
and stuff like that he come to me said go apply for U.S. passport at the
post office. Okay. I did and they denied me, post
(15:54):
office denied me. After that I called my attorney what
can I do he'll never respond that was the end of it. Ah! He
just took your money He got some bad advice from some
Yeah, it is a very specific part of law, I'm sure. But then
they charge, oh gosh, oh man, I
(16:14):
am so sorry this happened to you, Mike. I am just, oh, it makes me
so mad. I just feel like you had nothing to do with
any of this. You were victimized by a couple of bad
systems, our justice system and the adoption system and
the criminal justice system. And I just feel so
upset. But I see that you, I guess
(16:35):
you've had a while to think about this. But, you know, you're working hard on your case,
but you seem to have a sense of inner peace. And I want to know how
There was plenty of times, believe me, that I want to give up. I'm sure.
(16:58):
I'm sure. And you've created a life for yourself in Ethiopia. I think you
said you built another pizza business and things like that.
Yeah, I'm an entrepreneur. So I always. OK. Yeah. First,
I worked with a guy trying to open up a dustpan throughout the city.
It was called Keep Ethiopia Beautiful. They were having
problems with dustbins on the street. People were throwing papers and
(17:21):
stuff like that on the street. So I got together with this guy. We
Wow. To keep the streets clean. Yeah. Nice. Wow.
I didn't have no money, but it was my ideas and my friend and
we worked with the government. So they allowed us to do that. Yeah. Okay.
Wow. Second one, I opened up a vegetable stand, selling vegetables
(17:43):
like tomatoes, onions, avocados, all
Yeah. Shoot. Oh my gosh. And
(18:03):
Oh gout! That's hard. That's painful. And you're probably working on
Well, I wonder how you met Maureen, who is here with us
today, too. And if you'd like to introduce Maureen and what
(18:24):
Oh, how long have you known each other? Five years, maybe four or five years,
I'd say. And how did you meet Maureen? We met because
my kid told his story. We are fairly close in age. I'm
actually a little older than Mike is, but we met because
his story might have been on adoptees for justice or
something like that. And I am the adoptive parent
(18:45):
of four now young adults, including twin
daughters from Ethiopia. So I have been
involved with the Ethiopian adoption community for quite a while. We were
in the process of putting together an anthology called
Lions Roaring Far From Home, an anthology by Ethiopian
adoptees. And it was coincidence more than anything,
(19:07):
but we were able to include Mike's essay in
the book and his story. So that was kind of how that happened
together. I had also been involved and aware
of the complexity around citizenship and the fact that it was the
94 immigration law that mandated
anybody who was not a U.S. citizen who committed a crime
(19:29):
could be deported. And that the range of crime could
depend on, it could be very minor, could be very major, and
adoptees have been deported as a result of that. In
2003, the Child Citizenship Act became
law, and that made all incoming adoptees
under the age of 18 automatic U.S. citizens. They still
(19:51):
have to go through the paperwork, depending on the visa, but they are
U.S. citizens upon arrival in the United States. It
did not cover, though, the tens of thousands of adoptees who
are over 18. And I think, and you
kind of had talked about this a bit, Beth, I think an awful lot of people, and
probably this includes Mike's dad, believed that international
(20:12):
adoptees were U.S. citizens upon arrival in the
United States. Why wouldn't they be? Why would you have to go through a whole naturalization
process when you had arrived through the laws of
the country of origin and the United States? Everybody had signed off. So
it's been very heartbreaking to see what has happened to
Mike, absolutely, and to many other adoptees. And
(20:34):
of course, there are older adoptees who may not even know that they are not citizens.
Then they find out they also, if they're still here in the United States, they
don't qualify for social security benefits, they don't qualify for
Medicare. And it's also very heartbreaking. They may
not have had any trouble with the law, but not being citizens puts
(20:55):
So they are at risk for being deported and also just don't get any
And it's also very, I think, just personally heartbreaking, the idea that they're
not U.S. citizens. They very much consider themselves Americans.
This is their country. This is their home, their family. And
they may have connections to their country of origin. No question about that.
(21:17):
But they feel that they are part of
America, that they were adopted here, welcomed here.
Yet they have this liability. They could have voted in an
Wow, so many ramifications. I
know my son doesn't feel like he's fully Japanese or
(21:38):
fully American, kind of in between land. And
then to be told, yeah, you're not a citizen after all,
what that must do to an adoptee's psyche and soul. Because
you're already feeling kind of like an outsider. And then they say,
well, you are an outsider, actually. And I'm sending you back.
It's like, what? It's just so damaging on
(22:00):
so many levels. It's just unbelievable. So
you heard about my story, you connect with him. And then are you
I am. We established the GoFundMe, and I really appreciate you
talking about that, to help Mike with his legal costs for
sure, and also his medical costs. I think it's really important to
think of the fact that he's 61 years old. He has gout.
(22:22):
He has other medical conditions, he doesn't complain, but
medical issues for somebody who's lived on their
own in a country that they're not really familiar with, and granted 20 years
I get, but still it's an awful lot for
somebody to deal with. And he has family in the United States,
his wife, his sons, he has grandchildren that
(22:45):
he has never met. And for our U.S. government to
believe that that's okay, I find a tragedy. I really
do. If we're bringing children into the United States as international adoptees,
our Congress is very much in favor of adoption, and yet
we are willing to say we will deport
international adoptees. It's just wrong. They are
(23:10):
Absolutely. Are they working on some sort of new
Sure. There's there's been legislation for at
least close to the last 10 years, I would say. And I think a
lot of us who have been involved with this work really felt, well,
this will be just cleared up like that. And in fact, no,
it has not. It has been introduced in Congress in both the House
(23:33):
and the Senate multiple times. The Adoptee Citizenship Act
or a variation there. And they oftentimes can't get
enough co-sponsors, can't get it onto the floor of the House
and the Senate, can't get it to conference. It's just astonishingly frustrating
because I think if people understood the lives that are in
jeopardy, the promises essentially that were made. to
(23:54):
adoptees when they were children, when they had no agency over
what happened. And whether it was the parents failed
to do the paperwork or our U.S. government didn't do
the paperwork the right way, it should not matter. They
came in as adopted children, family members.
That notion of forever family in our government really
(24:15):
needs to act on that. There are a lot of adoptees for justice and
other organizations are working very hard on that. And it's very tough.
And I hope that everybody will contact their congressional representative
in the House and the Senate if they've co-sponsored the bill for adoptees.
OK, I will link that organization Adoptees for Justice in
the show notes. That's such good information. And so, oh,
(24:37):
man, it's an area that I have not really spent time
thinking about. I vaguely heard about this happening, but to actually
hear his voice and to to hear his story and
just to imagine and to imagine his kids and grandkids for
crying out loud that lost their dad when they were just
little kids. And for what? And
(24:58):
I can hear some people saying, well, he broke the law, but
he served his time. It was a dumb law anyway, but
he served his time. and he did what he needed to do to
And he's had no legal trouble whatsoever since the
incident in 1993. None in the U.S. or in
(25:27):
No, I think you hit the main parts. He was very close with his dad.
There's no question. As I recall, his dad died during the time that he
was in Ethiopia and he was not allowed to go back for his father's funeral.
And again, his father was a U.S. Army officer. Yeah. I'm sure
a person who complied with all U.S. regulations, so
forth, to the very best of his ability. And he
(25:48):
had to deal with the tragedy of seeing his adopted son
Oh, geez. God, just the amount of pain. I know. That's
terrible. He's calling. Hey, Mike. We
lost connection. Oh, we lost connection. No problem. We're
almost done anyway. And I've been recording Maureen. She's been doing some
(26:11):
more explaining things. So can you finish it just on the
OK. What I really want to talk about with most was
the hardship my kids have to go through and my wife has to
Because I got this good life and, you
(26:31):
Yes, absolutely. How are your kids? Do you
They're grown up now, but when they were growing up, they were homeless. After
they came back to America, after they visited me, they
They went through extreme hardship, you know. I want people to know this.
Yes, it is not, it doesn't just end with you. Oh,
(27:00):
You know, my wife is suffering, My kids are grown up.
I wanted them to go to college. I wanted to plan for them, but
Because of one piece of paperwork. Yes, yes. Or
one lazy immigration workers. Yes. They didn't
(27:21):
There's a law that protects me from being deported.
Yes, yes. But they never looked at that. Their agenda
When you deport us, when you deport adoptees, It also is
hurting their children, wife, everything. They
Absolutely. Absolutely. And now they have kids, right? You have
(27:46):
I'm not meeting them yet. I thought you have never met. Wow.
Well, I'm sending all my love to you and
(28:08):
your whole family, and I'm sure everyone that is listening is. Your case
seems so cut and dried and so obvious, completely injustice.
But is there any way we can help you? Besides, we're all going
to donate to your GoFundMe. We'll put the link in the show notes. Aside
from that, is there any other way that we can help you or
other adoptees who might be at risk of deportation? What can we do as
(28:30):
an adoption community and allies? What can we do to help you?
(29:07):
Okay. So
Okay. Yes.
It seems like that should have always been the case, but obviously it's not. So
they're trying to rectify that. So if people contacted their Congress person, do
(29:41):
Okay, Adoptings for Justice. I'll link that. Maureen was telling me about that. I
will link that, and so people could talk to their congressperson, making sure
Yeah, if you ask Maureen, she knows more about the adoption bill that's
Do you want to mention anything about that, Maureen? Just to say, yeah, Adoptee
Citizenship Act and Adoptees for Justice is
(30:02):
an excellent source. Adoptees United also is
a website run by an adoptee. It
was a lawyer, Greg Luce. Greg's site, Adoptees United.
They also maintain information about the legislation.
And the big thing is just what both of you are saying is for folks to contact their
congressional office and ask if they are a co-sponsor of
(30:25):
OK, awesome. All right. We'll put all of that in the show notes. This
is the time for everybody to do something. Don't just go into
the sad story. Go do something so no one
else has to suffer the way Mike has had to suffer. And he is not alone.
As far as I understand, there are several people that
we know about that have been deported and there are
(30:46):
countless people that are at risk of being deported, right? Am
Absolutely. We know of at least one adoptee who died by suicide
in Korea. We know another who was killed in Brazil.
So to say that adoptees have suffered and they have been
deported to almost every country. So it's a huge
issue for an awful lot of people, especially for those who don't know they are
(31:09):
Yes, yes, yes. OK, everybody, get on board with
this and let's get some help out there. Let's get these laws changed. And
the Supreme Court and the pro adoption people out there
need to come through. They're so
pro adoption. They need to support the adoptees after
OK. And including adoptive parents, whether they're kids or citizens
(31:31):
or not. I would love to see an awful lot more adoptive parents demanding citizenship
Absolutely, adoptive parents, especially transracially adoptive parents, let's
kind of get on this bandwagon and help out. We're part of this
whole system and we can be a squeaky wheel. Let's use our access
and privilege that we have to really make some
noise about this issue. Very good. Mike, I will give
(31:54):
you the last word. What would you like to say to our
Support the bill. Support the bill. No adult should never
be deported. Absolutely, absolutely. We should not suffer like
this. We build a family, we lose biological parents,
God doesn't, then we build our life, then they
have to suffer. This is devil's jeopardy. It's
(32:17):
Absolutely, it's not right. All right. Well, thank you very much for
Thank you for sharing your story. It's very important for us to hear, and we'll try
to get the word out for you. All right. Well, everyone,
like I said, go check out the GoFundMe and the links to the legal
organizations. And while you're at it, go look
(32:38):
at Unraveling Adoption. There's lots of events and resources there for everybody to
get involved as much as you can, as much as you're able. Thank
you all for listening. And Mike, Maureen, and I want you
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