The latest heartbreaking story of immigration policies ripping families apart comes from Lawrence, Kansas, where a federal judge has ruled in favor of destroying an Army family of three.
Hyebin Schreiber moved to the United States on a student visa when she was 15, in order to escape a troubled home life back in South Korea. She moved in with her biological aunt and uncle, who promptly decided to adopt her. However, Hyebin’s father, Pat, who’s been in the U.S. Army for more than 27 years, was deployed to Afghanistan, so the family opted to wait until he returned. It wasn’t until Hyebin was 17 that the adoption was finalized.
It was a decision the family would live to regret.
"It wasn't until we applied for her citizenship, or a path to citizenship, is when we found out from USCIS immigration that because we failed to adopt her prior to age 16, she would not be granted citizenship," Schreiber said.
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"I thought, well if Kansas recognizes it, then immigration would recognize it. And it never dawned on me that there were two different standards.”
Though Hyebin’s adoption timeline qualified her for a Kansas birth certificate, and the state considers Pat and Soo-jinn Schreiber to be her legal parents, the federal government has completely different standards.
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