Joao Herbert was just a regular Ohio teenager in Wadsworth, until his world turned upside down. He was deported to Brazil, a country where he had no family and did not speak the language. A few years later, he was murdered., No justice was ever served.
Why was he deported? Joao was an international adoptee, and his family didn’t understand that they needed to file for his citizenship separately from the adoption process. He was deported after a marijuana arrest, and his family’s nightmare ended in tragedy.
In December 2022, the Ohio Immigrant Alliance sent a letter to Senator Rob Portman, asking him to use his power in the remaining days of Congress to help turn the Adoptee Citizenship Act into law!
If the bill had already been in place, Joao would be alive and safe, at home with his family. At least 50 adopted people have been deported in recent years, and deserve the opportunity to come home.
We also worked with Adoptees For Justice and NAKASEC to hold a teach-in for grassroots activists, to learn what they can do to help pass the bill, stop unjust deportations, and allow deported people to come home.